Renault team chief Cyril Abiteboul has taken a swipe at Kevin Magnussen who departed Renault to join Haas, while the Dane claimed that the French team was plagued with a lack of leadership.
Abiteboul told Auto Hebdo, “I was disappointed with Magnussen. Disappointed with his performances and his behaviour. He is a talented race driver but lacks the discipline and very often he made excuses.”
“We wanted to maintain continuity with the team and no doubt it would have been logical to keep Kevin. But it turned out that while the other driver [Jolyon Palmer] progressed during the course of the season, the other [Magnussen] did not progress at the same rate. He stood still.”
Indeed Palmer being retained by Renault for another season came as something of a surprise, but Abiteboul explained, “Often on Fridays, Palmer was slower, but he gradually developed throughout the weekend, while Magnussen looked good in free practice but lost momentum as the weekend progressed.”
“Jolyon works at his own pace, as he did in GP2 where he took several seasons to win the title in a fight with Stoffel Vandoorne. But he is on the right track. We can assume that in 2017 Palmer will be stronger,” added Abiteboul.
Renault kept Magnussen in limbo regarding 2017, which frustrated the Dane who said before the final race in Abu Dhabi, “If it was clear who was in charge at Renault right now, I am sure there would be a decision. But there certainly is not.”
More recently Magnussen told BT newspaper, “Haas feels like a completely different team to McLaren and Renault. I think it’s a much better fit for me.”
As for ditching Renault for Haas, Magnussen explained, “It was more the feeling of them not committing, offering the drive to so many others and I think at one point the pope had an offer!”
“It was a bit messy, so it’s better for me to leave. More openness would have been good as well. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to know who is actually in charge here and who will make a decision,” revealed Magnussen.
Departing Renault team principal Frederic Vasseur said, “There was too much different vision in the management of the team, so at this stage I think it makes sense for me to leave.” Report here>>>
“For the Renault team also, if you want to perform in F1, you need to have one leader in the team and one single way. If you have two different visions then the result is that the work inside the team is slow,” added the Frenchman which affirmed what Magnussen had been saying for months.
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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