ENSTONE, U.K. -- When Renault returned to the sport in 2016 it outlined a six-year plan. The first three years would be spent rebuilding a factory that had been crippled by a lack of funding under its previous ownership and the following three years would be spent putting the French manufacturer back at the front of the grid. The 2019 season marks the second phase of that plan and that's why an awful lot rests on the progress of the team this year.
In 2018 it finished fourth in the constructors' championship but the gap to the top three teams was still significant.