London - The Renault Sport Formula One team launched its 2017 car, the RS17, on Tuesday afternoon at a media event in the Royal Horticultural Hall in London.
Pulling off the covers were race drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer, while Sergey Sirotkin was also announced as third and reserve driver.
The RS17 is the first Formula One car designed from scratch by Renault Motorsport from its two workshops in Enstone, Oxfordshire and Viry-Châtillon, just south of Paris, without any carryover engineering from former owner Lotus. It’s literally all new; not a single part has been carried over from the RS16.
Renault Sport Racing president Jérôme Stoll said: “The RS17 is the first car Enstone and Viry have been able to plan and develop from the outset and we think it’s a beautiful car.M
“Our performance targets for 2017 are clear. We want to take a definite, tangible step forward in performance and results. Fifth position in the Constructors’ championship is our goal.”
What’s under the new livery
The Renault RS17 has a 1.6-litre, turbopetrol V6, fed by a single turbo running about five bar of boost, depending on the altitude and the demands of the circuit, and direct fuel-injection. It has a bore and stroke of 80 x 53mm, four valves per cylinder and and revs to 15 000rpm, delivering about 540kW.
The MGU electrical energy recovery system adds another 120kW, for a total of ‘more than 660kW’, which drives the rear wheels via an eight-speed semi-automatic titanium gearbox with reverse gear.
The chassis is a moulded carbon-fibre and aluminium honeycomb composite monocoque, built in-house by the team, and uses the engine as a fully-stressed member.
Suspension is by carbon-fibre top and bottom wishbones with aluminium uprights. inboard dampers and torsion-bar springs; the rear dampers are actually inside the gearbox casing.
Braking is by carbon-ceramic discs and pads with Brembo callipers and AP Racing master cylinders, behind 13 inch OZ machined magnesium rims shod with 305mm wide (up from 245mm) front and 405mm rear (was 325mm) rear Pirellis.
Front track has increased from 1450-1600mm, rear track from 1400-1550mm, and overall width from 1800-2000mm, while overall height remains at 950mm. All-up weight, including driver, cameras and ballast, is up from 702-722kg.