Renault has confirmed that it is working on an all-new engine for the 2019 Formula 1 season as it bids to close its performance deficit to rivals Ferrari and Mercedes.
The French manufacturer, which currently supplies its own works team, McLaren and Red Bull – although from next year it will drop Red Bull which has chosen to switch to Honda – introduced its 'Spec C' power unit earlier this season in the hopes of catching its rivals.
However it's become clear to Renault that the development potential of the engine is limited and they have therefore chosen to go down a new development path with a new power unit design, which Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul believes will enable greater gains.
"It is a new engine," he told Motorsport about the next generation power unit. "One of the reasons for it, and why the Spec-C is not delivering more in terms of performance, is because we are not held back by the structural limitations of the [current] engine.
"Given the ambition in terms of power improvement for next year, pretty much all of the engine will be new. Not only on ERS side, because there is little power and little performance to extract there, but the rest of the ICE will be new.
"We are well advanced on the dyno. We have covered lots of mileage on the dyno."
Abiteboul cautioned that Renault needs to take a "disciplined" approach to the new engine to avoid repeating mistakes it has made in the past.
"We need to be a little bit careful and that is why we need to be extremely drastic and have lots of discipline on planning and milestones to make sure that we are not putting ourselves in a difficult position at the start of the season.
