MONTMELO, Spain -- Nico Hulkenberg says Renault's impressive start to 2018 pre-season shows how far the team has come since he joined 12 months ago.
Renault is continuing to build its factory outfit, which returned to the grid in 2016, and is expecting to make a step up the pecking order this season. On the opening morning of Barcelona's tests, Hulkenberg displayed impressive pace in the R.S.18, finishing just 0.041s off Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari.
With Renault finishing sixth after a slow start to last year's campaign, Hulkenberg thinks the team is in a better place this time around.