Renault is about to begin "three years of attack".
That is the view of Marcin Budkowski, the French works team’s new executive director. Last year he caused a paddock stir when he was poached from a top FIA role.
Now, he has been appointed to be centrally involved in the next phase of Renault’s push for the world championship.
"We do not work for the short term," Budkowski told France’s Auto Hebdo.
"We don’t just hire experienced people, but mostly young people coming out of university," he explained. "We invest in the future. We are not looking for immediate results as we are still rebuilding the team.
"We could have done better last year if the short term had been our goal, but rather it is to build a team capable of being world champions. After three years of construction, three years of attack are beginning," Budkowski added.
He admits that, in 2018, Renault did not do a good enough job of developing the car.
"If the question is ’Did we do a great job in terms of car development?’ the answer is no. Our progress was inherently worse than in 2017 and we are aware of it.
"There is a bit of disappointment at not being able to get closer to the top three, but that drives us to change things in the way we operate," he said.