Abiteboul: I’d like to apologise to Esteban

Retiring on lap 28 with what was a triple-whammy of a tearoff in a brake duct, a clutch issue, and ultimately a broken drive-shaft, Ocon has now DNF'ed three of the past five races.

And while the team continues to climb the constructor's standings courtesy of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, Abiteboul says they must do better by the 24-year-old.

“I’d like to apologise to Esteban as it was another retirement due to a technical issue,” he said after the race. “He was not far off in qualifying and had a decent start to be in the mix despite the early stop to remove the tear-off from his ducts.

“He then suffered from an issue that caused some trouble with his gearbox and he had to retire. It’s a shame as Daniel has shown that when the car is working, there is pace and competitiveness.”

With four races left in the season, Renault sits third in the standings with 135 points, just one ahead of McLaren and Racing Point. Ricciardo, who now has two podiums to his name in 2020, is responsible for 95 of those points, while Ocon only has 40.