What are your thoughts heading to Montreal? I was there last year and I realised what a really cool city it is. It’s also one which genuinly embraces Formula 1 coming to town so can’t wait to return. The track itself looks great with good overtaking opportunities. There has been good racing there in the past so it’s exciting to be headed for my first race there. I will get the B spec power unit for the first time. It looked like it made a good difference in Monaco and Canada is a more power-hungry circuit so if it was a positive step in Monaco it should certainly help our cause in Montreal. The new engine mapping certainly looks to have been beneficial and you need good traction in out of the lower speed corners in Canada. It’s got more power too so everything is good in that regard! We should be a good chunk more competitive. We’ll do everything we can to maximise the car around the track and we’ll be pushing all the way as usual! What went wrong for you in the Monaco Grand Prix? We went over the data and it looks like it was the lower grip as I crossed the white lines of the zebra crossing which meant my wheels span as I pushed to accelerate. The car was pitched sideways and I collected the barriers. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. I had a bit of bruising on my feet so it was just my ego and the car that had to suffer. I have been in Enstone since Monaco, to get some time in the Sim but I did also offer to get the spanners out to help build the new chassis… I’m very grateful for all the hard work that goes in at the track and back in Enstone and Viry and I did more than my fair share of damage to the car in Monaco. Away from the track, Monaco is such a big week and you really feel it afterwards. On Monday night I slept a straight 14 hours to recover; I was exhausted! It’s a really cool weekend, but it’s just so busy! You start a day early then there’s no track running on Friday but all kinds of exciting media initiatives including showcasing the R.S.16 Clio which was cool.

What do you think of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve? It’s a cool circuit with a semi-street track vibe to it. It’s quite challenging in its nature with some rapid chicanes and big braking zones. Overall it’s a quite enjoyable circuit to drive and it usually offers a good race. Any favourites from previous Canadian Grands Prix? The 2011 race really sticks in my mind where my old team-mate Jenson Button took the victory. That was pretty cool! When you look back there have been plenty of good races there. I was in the points when I raced there in 2014. Let’s hope for a classic this year. Have you watched the Monaco Grand Prix? Unfortunately I watched some of the race live from the team motorhome after I retired which certainly wasn’t my plan! I haven’t watched the first half as I know what happened to me. We did have potential to move forward and possibly get into the points so it was an opportunity missed. It was a frustrating after the contact so I prefer to look forward to Canada and beyond. What’s been keeping you busy in preparation for Canada? Nothing unusual and to be honest it’s almost a routine between races. I’ve been training, I’ve been in Enstone to spend time with my engineers and in the sim and I also get some rest and relaxation. What are your hopes for the Canadian Grand Prix? It’s a more power sensitive track than Monaco so the latest power unit should have more effect there. Hopefully we have more time to get the set-up dialled-in and make use of the upgrades for the car. If we have a good weekend certainly we want to be fighting for points.

What can we expect in Montreal? Canada is another challenging track. It has a street course feel and it’s another place where we see a lot of track evolution as it’s not used for many race activities other than the Grand Prix. The circuit surface is low grip and it can be difficult to get the tyres into their working range there. Montreal has also presented us with quite a mix of weather conditions over the years, so there is plenty to keep us on our toes. How much benefit does the B specification power unit bring? It’s a good step forward and we have it in both cars in Montreal. In Monaco we were able to benefit primarily from the improved driveability whereas Montreal is more a power track thanks to its straights following slow corners. This means we should really see the power unit stretch its legs. What’s needed from the car in Montreal? It’s mainly about braking and traction. There’s a lot of heavy braking so you need to be on top of cooling for the brakes to ensure they don’t overheat and need a setup which has good stability under braking to give the driver confidence. There are some reasonable kerbs at the chicanes so ride over those is also important. You also need strong traction out of the slow corners and good grunt to propel the car down the straights. How much damage was sustained on both cars in Monaco? Kevin’s incidents mainly damaged bolt-on parts whereas Jolyon’s incident means we will use a new chassis – R.S.16-04 – for Montreal. The car hit the barriers quite hard at an oblique angle which damaged the front of the chassis and since we have a new chassis available it makes sense to introduce it. Fortunately, 04 was pretty far along on its build so we only needed to complete fuel cell installation and wiring for it to be ready for Canada.

What were the positives from Monaco? The main positive is that the B specification power unit is working well and gives us good potential for the future. It’s a strong valuable step in terms of performance, both in headline power figures and in driveability. It was completely reliable too, so we are happy with progress there. What is your evaluation of the Monaco weekend? It’s true that Monaco was not a successful event for us; we left Monte Carlo with a lot of damaged parts, we didn’t finish the race with either car and we scored no points. The race took place in difficult conditions as we saw with Jolyon. Fortunately he was not hurt although the same cannot be said for his chassis. Kevin’s call to change tyres was a good one even if he did get stuck behind Pascal Wehrlein longer than we wanted after the pit stop. His pace was not bad in clear running but Daniil Kvyat decided to end that for us. He was one lap down and it was a completely stupid move. It’s always difficult to have a good strategy in Monaco as you are dependent on what your rivals are doing as it’s so difficult to overtake there. Elsewhere it was a good weekend for Renault Sport Academy driver Oliver Rowland who finished in third position in the GP2 Series Feature race. Another aspect to Monaco was that we generated a lot of interest with the F1 inspired R.S.16 Clio on track, we had a high profile guest in Tony Parker and a lot of Renault personnel were present as the race is the event nearest to being a French Grand Prix. What can we expect in Montreal? Hopefully a better weekend than we had in Monaco! We approach each race on its own merits so everyone has reset after Monaco and we’ll be looking for the best results possible. Both drivers will have the B specification power plant and we’ll have some new parts to try on the cars too. We will have our Test Driver Nicholas Latifi joining the team to get an insight into how an F1 team works over the course of a race weekend. Nicholas had a strong start to his GP2 Series season with his Barcelona podium even if his weekend in Monaco was more challenging. He will drive in FP1 later in the year so his weekend in Canada is vital preparation.