Fabrice Lom, the man in charge of Renault’s V8s at Red Bull Racing looks back on the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix.

Fabrice, how did the last two races go for Red Bull Racing?
They were the beginning of a turn around in form. After four races without points, including the race in Valencia where we simply weren’t on the pace, we were back running in the points in both races. In Italy and in Belgium, our level of performance was better and we didn’t have any reliability issues. Spa seemed to suit the characteristics of our car slightly more, while the rain in Monza showed the competitiveness of our V8. It’s positive.

Saying that, Toro Rosso have made excellent progress recently…
Exactly. Our junior team has scored 19 points in three races, and they have moved ahead of us in the constructors’ championship. The situation is complicated, but it would be too simplistic to explain the success of one and the difficulties of the other simply by the different engines in the two cars.

Has Red Bull found an explanation for the difficulties encountered this summer?
Not completely. The test session that we had in Monza two weeks ago allowed us to carry out some set-up comparisons and to assess some parts to determine if the theoretical gains had been translated onto the racetrack. In Jerez this week, we are continuing this evaluation in order to determine more precisely the origin of our problems.

What is your objective for the end of the season?
Even though we lost a place in the championship last weekend, we must not change our objective and should therefore aim for fourth position by the end of the season. It’s not impossible with 15 points separating us from Toyota and Renault. If we rediscover the competitiveness we showed at the start of the season, and if Toro Rosso can take points away from our competitors, we could accomplish this mission.

Source: ING Renault F1 Team