Renault is in their third stint as a constructor in Formula 1 since rising from the ashes of Lotus after the British manufacturer went bust at the end of 2015. Renault finished in fourth place in last year's constructors' championship, their best placing since rejoining in 2016, and have ambitions of winning their first title since 2006.
Expectations were high coming into this season of Formula 1 racing, but there's still a yawning chasm of a pace gap to Red Bull in third place. Daniel Ricciardo has replaced Carlos Sainz to partner Nico Hulkenberg in a bid to gain the French team's first podium since 2010, but their ambitions are for wins and championships.
Despite the massive financial investment, success hasn't come Renault's way yet, fourth place is the highest they've finished in a race, and McLaren (their customer team) are ahead in this year's standings. They've now arguably got the worst engine on the grid (in terms of both power output and reliability) in Formula 1, which is rubbed in by the fact McLaren are going back to Mercedes engines in 2021.
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However, with F1 2019's R&D system, you can take Renault to the top of the performance tree alongside Ricciardo, making them a brilliant choice for a Road To Glory Career.
Expectations
Renault is expecting points finishes from the off, but the car is only seventh fastest overall in the vehicle performance comparison, so top 10 finishes will be a challenge. However, with 1500 R&D points, to begin with, the car can be rapidly upgraded to get ahead of your midfield rivals.
Ricciardo will be a tough teammate to beat, he's won plenty of races for his previous team Red Bull, but the Aussie will push the team forward alongside you.
If you're wondering about what type of driver Renault prefer, they go for drivers who are classed as Sportsman, rather than Showman, so be professional in your media interviews.
READ MORE: McLaren career mode guide
Renault R&D
Research and development (R&D) is essential in F1 2019, standing still in Formula 1 will see you quickly plummet down the grid in terms of performance. The midfield battle is an extremely tight one, as McLaren, Haas and Racing Point are very close in performance to Renault and can be caught with just a couple of upgrades.
Renault construct their own engine, but their power unit leaves much to be desired, starting F1 2019 joint last with the Honda-powered Red Bull and Toro Rosso and customer team McLaren. Their chassis and aerodynamic stats are pretty decent though, starting the game in midfield in both departments, so you should focus your efforts on the engine.
READ MORE: Racing Point career mode guide
The races around the power circuits will be the most difficult for Renault, especially before you've had a chance to upgrade in the first half of the season. Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Canada will all be races where you'll have to turn the wing angles down to in order to stand a chance down the straights.
Be careful not to upgrade the engine too far, though, as focusing on the power units will make the car harder to drive and you'll lose ground to the midfield around higher downforce tracks like Monaco, Singapore and Hungary. Also, you should spread the upgrades across the four departments, as regulation changes could decimate progress you make by the start of the second season.
Future
They may be slightly tedious, but the practice programmes are so important to gaining extra R&D points, completing them all will get you around 350 towards your cause. There are plenty of minor upgrades for the engine (5 to begin with), so you should be able to tick these off before Monaco. Similarly, there are a good bunch of aerodynamic upgrades to complete.
The aim of your first season should be to catch the top three teams, or at least get onto the coattails of Red Bull. Podiums won't be regular for you nor Ricciardo until the start of the second season, although it is possible to challenge for the top 3 if weather falls your way or there's a lot of retirements.
By the end of the second season (should you choose to not move) you should be able to up there with Ferrari and Mercedes and challenge for wins and the driver's championship in the third season. The key is to upgrade across the board and limit any damage that regulation changes will cause you.
READ MORE: Haas career mode guide
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