Last year was a dismal one for Renault. It dawdled for far too long at the end of 2015 before taking over the Lotus team, and because of this the engineers were put in an impossible position in terms of coming up with a car concept and optimising it. So the team suffered for the whole season.
The concern is this suggests the management is naive when it comes to understanding the enormity of a project like this. To be successful in Formula 1 is about snap decisions, commitment, budget stability and ensuring people can get on with their responsibilities.
During the car launch, there were many references to what Renault has to achieve in 2017. The big bosses were saying that fifth in the constructors' championship was the minimum. So let's look at that.