Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul has admitted that the French team’s winter ambitions with their engine programme led to this year’s reliability issues.

Although Renault’s 2017 engine is an improvement on last year’s power unit, it has been known to fail.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has already experienced a few of those while Renault’s own driver Jolyon Palmer has also had issues.

“I cannot look professional if I tell you that these were expected problems, because we don’t design a new engine expecting that it is not going to work,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

“The reality, and that is still a frustrating thing, is that we are still not great at designing first time.