Renault hope Illien can help them hunt Mercedes

Renault has placed faith in engine guru Mario Illien, as they hope to bridge the gap in engine performance to the dominant Mercedes.

The German manufacturer clearly has the best engine on the grid, and they swept all before them as they won 16 of 19 races last year.

Illien, who helped Mercedes design their all-conquering engine which powered McLaren to success in the 1990’s, has joined the French manufacturer as a consultant, and he is already brainstorming improvements.

Renault’s F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul told AUTOSPORT: “Mario is an opportunity to benchmark what we are doing. We need to transform ourselves, and we need to be open also. We must not be afraid of what is outside.

“We are not perfect inside. We have to be open to a world that we do not necessarily have access to. I very much see Mario’s company as an opportunity to bring additional knowledge.

“A wealth of knowledge, experience and to short cut, because we will have, in the next few weeks, to make important decisions, not for 2015 but for 2016.”

Renault supply Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

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