Abiteboul: Bringing in staff more difficult than anticipated

Renault F1 team have been restructuring since their buyout from the Genii in September last year, to return to the pinnacle of the sport as a works constructor, but according managing director Cyril Abiteboul getting quality staff on board fast is proving to be a challenge

Abiteboul explained the situation facing the French team, "Where we are behind in terms of our plans is on the human side. Bringing in people as quickly as we would like - both in quantity and quality - has been more difficult than anticipated."

"There are obviously people with contracts in place, and if they want to join us, for people to get out of those contracts takes time."

"First we have to convince them, and frankly that's one area where we are struggling, and I don't understand why we're struggling with people to be convinced by our ambitions and how committed Renault is to this project."

"I want to let people know we are super serious in our projects, but I think that's where acts - more than my words - will show that."

Currently the team employs 500 staff and are looking to bolster the work force to around 590.

"Hopefully they will make a difference - not to this year's car, unfortunately that will be too late - but for next year's car. It's been a number of engineers in particular. Frankly I'm not going to give names," said Abiteboul.

"But it's true we thought it would be easier to convince people, and to retain everyone as we lost a couple of people who were not necessarily convinced by our ability to be where we want to be in the future, which is to be a top team."

"To a certain degree I understand them. When you see the level of our competitors, the game has changed so much in the six years since we were last in Enstone," admitted Abiteboul,