Renault: We need a Schumie, a Hamilton, a Vettel or an Alonso

Despite knowing that success comes to teams who build their package around a star driver, Renault returned to Formula 1 as a works outfit this season with a rookie and a driver who has yet to fully prove himself at the pinnacle of the sport.

Renault team principal Frederic Vasseur said in an interview, "If you look at the success stories of the past, success was always built around a driver: [Michael] Schumacher and Ferrari, [Sebastian] Vettel and Red Bull, Lewis [Hamilton] and Mercedes, and also [Fernando] Alonso and Renault in the past."

"The driver is important. A driver is not only about performance, but about being capable of leading a team. Right now we have more or less a thousand people in the team, if you take Viry and Enstone together, and that needs some sort of emotional leadership."

"That is the job for a driver! We need a driver who is super-motivated and able to super-motivate everybody else."

The drivers they have now cannot, at this stage, provide the inspiration to galvanise a battalion of people who do the hard graft to get two cars on the grid each grand prix weekend.

Asked if their current pairing of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer have the capacity to lead the team's aspirations in the future, Vasseur replied, "They are improving! We know we are on the grid, so improving is written in capital letters for us."

With regards the driver line-up for 2017, the Frenchman added, "It is too early to make any decision right here and now. We will probably do it at the beginning of September."

The team have only scored points once, so far this season, with Magnussen in Russia. Nevertheless the French team chief defends his drivers, "It's not easy for them either. They have been used to winning in the past [in junior categories] - and now they are cut off from that. I see both of them improving."

"Keep in mind that Jo is rookie and Kevin did only one season [of F1] before -- and that was two years ago. Jo has been improving a lot - true he spun in Hungary, but so far he did a good job. And that also goes for Kevin. Both have a very optimistic approach. They are a good support for the team," added Vasseur.