Newsletter December 2018 FOREWORD // Cyril Abiteboul Renault Sport Racing Managing Director
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Newsletter December 2018 FOREWORD // Cyril Abiteboul Renault Sport Racing Managing Director // It’s been pleasing to see excellent results We have been satisfied overall with what we’ve Jack Aitken stepped up to Formula 1’s premier In the coming weeks and months, plans will take from the 2018 crop of Renault Sport Academy seen this season and how this success exemplifies support class alongside duties as Third & Reserve shape for 2019 and beyond. Decisions will be Drivers; a good reward for a lot of hard work the young driver ladder, which Renault has set out. Driver with the team. Jack can be proud of his made as to who will drive in the black and yellow and preparation behind the scenes. achievements since developing through the junior colours next season but, at this moment, Looking at the highlights of the year, Max Academy ladder in 2016, to driving a modern the distant objective remains unchanged: Renault Developing a competitive Formula 1 package is Fewtrell won the Formula Renault Eurocup title, Formula 1 car in 2018. targets an Academy driver as a future Formula 1 one thing, but ensuring the most talented drivers demonstrating consistency and a level-head at the world champion. // are in the cockpit is also a critical ingredient and right times to take the championship. Christian Arthur Rougier and Sun Yue Yang have continued something Renault very much buys into. The Lundgaard pushed Max close in his rookie season their development in the Academy, benefitting young drivers currently coming through the doors in the Eurocup to finish runner-up. Overall, Max, from the support and guidance outlined by the at Enstone are the ones we expect to be in the Christian as well as Victor Martins, fifth in the programme. race seats in the near future. series, were very impressive this season and join an elite list of names to achieve success in the Finally, Affiliated Driver Anthoine Hubert won the There is still a bit of time before we see the highly-competitive Eurocup. GP3 Series championship after a classy season. team and young drivers fighting for world Anthoine showed patience throughout the year championships, but the Academy is always While the championship standings don’t tell the and proved to be the most consistent driver at discovering new ways to progress and grow whole story, it was great to see Sacha Fenestraz every round. stronger. round off his season by finishing third place in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. // 02 // // Jack Aitken FIA Formula 2 Championship, ART Grand Prix Jack: // I had positives this season like Quite often at race I’ve worked hard throughout the I’m already looking forward @JaitkenRacer winning in Spain, the podium weekends, we’ve shown front- year to find solutions and that to 2019. This year has been jaitkenracer in Baku, qualifying on the front running pace, but not been puts me in good stead for the tough, but I’ve learned a lot row in Hungary as well as able to convert that into more future. and a season of having these Age: 23 running in the Formula 1 car. frequent podiums or wins. problems will undoubtedly help Nationality: British/Korean me later down the line. I’ll take the positives and move forward 2018 Season: 11th Position, 63pts onto the next challenge. // 2018 Wins: 1 2018 Podiums: 2 2018 Pole Positions: 0 2018 Fastest Laps: 0 Bahrain Baku Catalunya Monaco Le Castellet Red Bull Ring P9, P18 P2, P11 P6, P1 P7, Ret. P11, DNS Ret., P18 Silverstone Hungaroring Spa Monza Sochi Abu Dhabi P13, P12 P4, P10 P11, P19 P17, P8 P14, Ret. P10, P13 Season review: Jack made the step up to the FIA Formula 2 Championship for 2018, alongside duties as Third & Reserve Driver for Renault Sport Formula One Team. Having finished 2017 as runner-up in GP3 with ART Grand Prix, Jack remained with the French outfit for his maiden Formula 2 campaign. He finished the season eleventh in the standings on 63 points, scoring two podium finishes including a victory in Barcelona. In between racing in Formula 2, Jack conducted his first outing in a contemporary Formula 1 car in May, when he took to the wheel of the Renault R.S.18 in Barcelona during the official in-season test. In October, Jack again drove the team’s Formula 1 car at Suzuka in a Pirelli tyre test and has also completed demo runs in the Renault- powered E20 in France, Goodwood and Miami. Jack made a promising start to his racing season, recording a second place in a thriller in Baku, followed by a maiden win in Spain. The middle part of the calendar proved challenging with points hard to come by, but Jack stuck at the task and rounded off the second-half of the season with points in Monza and Abu Dhabi. // // 03 // // Max Fewtrell Formula Renault Eurocup, R-ace GP Max: // Overall, we’ve had a really To win the championship in that The three wins across the two We had the most wins, most @Max_Fewtrell good year and that’s shown by way makes it even sweeter as German rounds proved vital and pole positions and were the maxfewtrell winning the title. It took a lot of that shows our strong attitude that accelerated us to where we quickest car out there at most hard work to get the job done, to the job. We were always deserved to be. rounds. It was a rollercoaster Age: 19 especially having to chase the fighting at the front with wins season, but we knew we had Nationality: British lead throughout much of the at Paul Ricard and Silverstone, the pace and that kept me calm season. despite some frustration in when things got tough. // 2018 Season: 1st Position, 275.5pts Monza and Monaco. 2018 Wins: 6 2018 Podiums: 11 2018 Pole Positions: 6 2018 Fastest Laps: 5 Le Castellet Monza Silverstone Monaco Red Bull Ring P2, P1 P22, P10 P1, Ret. P7, P8 P1, P2 Spa Hungaroring Nürburgring Hockenheim Catalunya P5, P7 P3, P2 P2, P1 P1, P1 P4, P4 Season review: Max secured the Formula Renault Eurocup Drivers’ Championship in 2018, after bouncing back from a 41.5-point deficit two-thirds of the way through the season. He entered the campaign as one of the favourites for the title having picked up the Eurocup’s top rookie accolade in 2017 to add to his British F4 championship win the year before. Despite recording the most wins, most podium finishes and most pole positions through the year, Max had to dig deep to win the Eurocup given the level of competition, notably fellow Academy member Christian. Max enjoyed the dream start at Paul Ricard, but found frustration at Monza after leaving with a solitary point. He returned to Silverstone with a win, but couldn’t challenge the top three in Monaco, before coming back in Austria with a third victory of the season. The turning point for Max was after Spa, where he put the hammer down to record six podiums in a row – including three consecutive wins across the Nürburgring and Hockenheim – and entered the final round with a comfortable lead. From then, Max had one hand on the title and picked up two fourth place finishes in Barcelona to lift the trophy. // // 04 // // Christian Lundgaard Formula Renault Eurocup, MP Motorsport Christian: // My season was a lot better I struggled a little bit in our title chances. The pace Finishing second was better @Clundgaard5 than I expected. We started out the mid-season and lost a was so strong, but luck wasn’t than expected. This was my lundgaardofficial being prepared to fight for the bit of momentum through on our side and there was a best season in racing so far and rookie title and we progressed Silverstone, Monaco and Red 50-point swing to Max in the it beats being a double Formula Age: 17 each weekend and realised we Bull Ring. We picked things championship. I knew I had to 4 champion. I wasn’t surprised Nationality: Danish could be in contention to win back up across the next two win both races in Barcelona. I by our success, I adapted quickly the championship outright. rounds at Hungary and the did half of that with a victory to Formula Renault, but next 2018 Season: 2nd Position, 258pts (1st Rookie) Nürburgring with two wins and a second place, but it didn’t year is going to be a step up. // 2018 Wins: 4 and some podiums, but then fall for us in the end. 2018 Podiums: 9 Hockenheim arrived and that 2018 Pole Positions: 4 weekend ultimately ended 2018 Fastest Laps: 3 Le Castellet Monza Silverstone Monaco Red Bull Ring P5, P3 P2, P1 Ret., P5 P5, P5 P5, P3 Spa Hungaroring Nürburgring Hockenheim Catalunya P1, P8 P2, P1 P3, P5 Ret., Ret. P1, P2 Season review: Christian enjoyed a superb rookie season in the Formula Renault Eurocup, narrowly missing out to Max in the Drivers’ Championship. After winning two Formula 4 titles in 2017 – his first year in single- seaters – Christian had his eyes set on being top rookie in the Eurocup. That goal soon changed after the first couple of rounds where he took three podium finishes from the opening four races, including a first win in Monza. Four consecutive fifth place finishes followed across Silverstone, Monaco and Red Bull Ring, before Christian recorded his second Eurocup win in Spa. The momentum was back for the Dane who moved into the championship lead with a win and a second in Hungary before recording another podium at the Nürburgring to maintain that advantage.