How Renault is powering up through the F1 order

Up until the Belgian Grand Prix, 2020 had so far been a tepid season for Renault. The Anglo-French squad has arguably stagnated as perhaps the fifth or sixth-best Formula 1 team in recent years, fighting against an increasingly congested midfield.

Despite manufacturer backing, Renault has yet to score a single podium since returning to F1 as a works outfit, a statistic that will surely leave the team feeling slightly sore - especially as its engine department has helped McLaren claim two trips to the rostrum after recovering from the harrowing depths of its Honda tie-up.

But the latest race at Spa-Francorchamps was arguably Renault's closest sniff at a top-three finish yet. Hypothetically, had the race been two or three laps longer, Daniel Ricciardo had a very real chance of catching and passing former team-mate Max Verstappen as the Red Bull driver began to toil on his ageing hard tyres. Ricciardo's tyres were no spring chickens either, since the two drivers had pitted at the same time, but the Australian somehow kept enough life in them to swipe the fastest lap of the race on the final tour.

Esteban Ocon also enjoyed a fortunate final lap of the Belgian GP, surging past Alex Albon on the Kemmel Straight after the Anglo-Thai driver had run out of defensive moves to throw into Les Combes. Ocon's pass rewarded Renault with a 4-5 finish, its best result since last year's Italian GP - another 4-5 - to lift the squad to within two points of Ferrari in the constructors' table.

Every car has its specialisms, apart from the Mercedes W11 which is a true jack-of-all-trades, master-of-everything-except-when-it's-too-hot, and it seems that the Renault thrives in high-speed situations. In fact, over the past couple of years, the RS-line of cars has been particularly handy at circuits where the throttle pedal hits the floor for prolonged periods of time.

The first glimpse of that high-speed specialism appeared in Canada last year, in which Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg logged a 6-7 finish on the Montreal circuit - helped by its plethora of longer acceleration zones. Had both drivers not had to contend with grid penalties (and Ricciardo not fallen down the order late on) at last year's Belgian round, Renault might have been on for another healthy points finish.

But the duo qualified fifth and sixth at Monza last year and, thanks to Sebastian Vettel's spin early on, shuffled up a position and retained the first two positions outside of the podium placings on a circuit infamous for rewarding top speed.

So far this year, we'd not had much opportunity to see what Renault was capable of on a high-speed circuit. Silverstone is the closest we've had so far but, given its higher percentage of low and medium-speed corners compared to Spa, the Renault is a little more compromised.

All three Renault-powered drivers that took part in the Belgian Grand Prix occupied the top six on the speed trap, pointing at the power unit advances over the previous months

One thing that Renault has struggled for in the past few seasons is downforce. The technical department is still growing - having been bought up at the end of 2015 in a somewhat dilapidated state - and since then the team has had to bolster its depleted resources while trying to catch the better-funded top-three teams. We've criticised Renault in the past for not making the inroads that a manufacturer team perhaps should be, but in truth making those gains in modern F1 is a particularly challenging feat.

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But the downforce that Renault does have seems to be efficient. This year's RS20 seems to have a healthy grasp on the amount of drag that it produces in a straight line and, thanks to a clean run in qualifying, the team was able to show this off properly at Spa.

Having struggled to catch Ricciardo and later struggled to hold off Ocon, Albon explained to Sky that the Renaults were threatening to provide a significant challenge early in the weekend.

"We said before the race the Renaults would be hard to overtake," Albon said. "I think with DRS, you're just staying the same as them, so it was pretty tricky to do anything."

The Renault power unit also seems to have a good turn of speed too; the days in which it would churn out significantly less power than the Mercedes and Ferrari power units are long gone (well, at least in the case of the former), and is much more evenly matched after the hybrid regulations have (largely) settled the pecking order.

All three Renault-powered drivers that took part in the Belgian Grand Prix - Carlos Sainz Jr's McLaren ruled out before the start - occupied the top six on the speed trap, pointing at the power unit advances over the previous months.

The nature of Spa is that, with a low-drag car with a punchy powertrain, you can make up a big chunk of time in sectors one and three, with sector two rewarding the cars with more downforce. Ocon did tend to fall away from Albon throughout that sector following his less-successful runs on the Kemmel Straight, but the third sector offered a chance for the Frenchman to return to his rival's six and take another bite at the cherry with a good exit from La Source.

The Renault set-up also seemed to help the tyres too, as degradation began to bite in the dying stages of the race. Ricciardo was catching Verstappen hand-over-fist, taking 10 seconds out of the Dutchman in the final four laps. Degradation at Spa isn't particularly high, as the corners aren't perhaps as high-energy as those at Silverstone or Barcelona, but on a one-stop strategy wear still presents a challenge.

For Ricciardo and Ocon to put 34 laps on their hard tyres and still have enough in the tank to set their best laps of the race on the final tour is quite the feat.

With Monza next up, Renault's Belgian GP successes should leave the Enstone squad feeling particularly buoyant. The trio of long straights should give the pair of black-and-yellow RS20s plenty of room to stretch their legs, and running an even lower-drag package - as is customary at Monza - can yield further dividends.

Monza should be, with a clean race, another one-stopper. That'll play into Renault's hands if Spa is anything to go by, and Ocon waxed lyrical post-race about the car's performance - predicting more chances to shine next weekend.

"The pace of the car was awesome [at Spa]," he said. "There's one more chance next week because obviously the characteristics are quite similar or more extreme way, so hopefully we're going to do the same or even better.

"I think there's a bit more to come from us in the following round. There's been a lot understood this weekend. Obviously having the fresh parts gives us confidence, and we're not trying to find lap time where it's not possible. We had our head focused on the right thing.

Given that Ricciardo and team principal Cyril Abiteboul have a bet on, in which Abiteboul gets a tattoo of Ricciardo's choosing should a Renault make it to the podium, you can bet that the tattooist's gun will be primed for action

"It was a lot more calm in the debrief and we were a lot more focused on the right things, and it definitely feels much better than the past couple of races. There's been plenty understood and for sure in the next races it should be good."

If Renault plays its cards right, provided the rest of the field doesn't suddenly turn up to Monza with a few extra kilometres per hour in their back pockets, then a repeat result is certainly there for the taking.

Hell, if Renault also enjoys a healthy dose of good fortune, Monza may also present the team's best chance of making it to the podium since Romain Grosjean's third place at Spa in 2015 in its Lotus days.

And given that Ricciardo and team principal Cyril Abiteboul have a bet on, in which Abiteboul gets a tattoo of Ricciardo's choosing should a Renault make it to the podium, you can bet that the tattooist's gun will be primed for action should the Italian Grand Prix fall in the team's favour.