Major Improvements in New Engine, Says His

The Renault team are confident that the new engine that will power their R202 car in the 2002 season will be a major improvement over their 2001 unit.

Renault, who unveiled their new car on Sunday, introduced last year a revolutionary engine with the widest vee angle in the Formula One field, and despite an erratic start of the season, the power unit began to perform as the year progressed.

Jean-Jacques His, now Renault's managing director but the man in charge of the engine department until the start of 2002, revealed that this year's unit is not completely new, but is confident it will be a big improvement.

"This season we will introduce new concepts," said His. "It is not a completely new engine, and uses the same architectural philosophy as last year, but there are major improvements for 2002. Having worked on achieving a high level of reliability in 2001, this year we will concentrate on ultimate performance.

"It takes more than one and a half years for a new engine to reach a satisfactory level of development and, now that we have acquired this experience, we will be more capable of responding to the needs of the chassis team by supplying them with a competitive unit."