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Abiteboul on teaser images of RS20: “You get to see the actual car in Barcelona”

Abiteboul on teaser images of RS20: “You get to see the actual car in Barcelona”

12-02-2020 18:08
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Bevan Youl

Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul has said that we will see the “actual car in Barcelona” after it was not present at the teams launch event, instead displaying images of parts of the car.

The French manufacturer launched their 2020 challenger Wednesday but at the event there was no car present, with a few images from different angles being shown instead.
 
Rather the car is still being built and ready to be sent off to Barcelona for testing, according to Abiteboul.

“It’s in bits and going to Barcelona,” he said. “Rather than showing you a show car that is slightly altered in order to look like a 2020 car, we decided just to show you renders and if you are there you get to see the actual car in Barcelona next week.”

The Frenchman insists though that they are ahead of schedule for their car in comparison to previous years, and that presenting the actual version at a launch event would be unrealistic, leaving ‘fake cars’ as the only option.

“If anything, we are much more on schedule than we were last year,” he added.

“You might remember last year we invited you guys (media) to come to Enstone and actually I mentioned how late we were.

“So we are ahead of schedule. But frankly, after last year and other years, I read what you write but I also read what people say about what you write and the pictures that we post, and I got extremely frustrated from people already reacting to the car that they think they see, but actually nobody is capable of presenting a car.

“If you optimize your schedule you don’t have a car waiting here for a couple of hours or days. Your car is built and you go straight to Barcelona — that is what is an optimized schedule.

“On that basis, our only option is to have fake cars — show cars — altered to look like this year’s car.

“For me it’s a waste of money and the result will always be below optimal and people will always interpret based on that. So rather than that, no car. For anyone interested in the car, look at the pictures next week!”

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