By alley - Feb 13, 2015, 9:31 AM ET

F1: Illien aims to fast-track Renault progress

Illien's engine company is working as a consultant for Renault to help brainstorm improvements that can help the French car manufacturer and works team Red Bull. Back in the early 1990s, Illien played a key role in helping his then-Ilmor company develop the Mercedes engine that went on to achieve title success with McLaren. Since then, he has focused on IndyCar and MotoGP engines as part of special projects work.

Renault F1's managing director Cyril Abiteboul said that his company has to be open to the input of experts like Illien if it is to move forward.

"Mario is an opportunity to benchmark what we are doing," Abiteboul told AUTOSPORT. "We need to transform ourselves, and we need to be open also. We must not be afraid of what is outside.

"We are not perfect inside. We have to be open to a world that we do not necessarily have access to. I very much see Mario's company as an opportunity to bring additional knowledge. A wealth of knowledge, experience and to short cut, because we will have, in the next few weeks, to make important decisions, not for 2015 but for 2016."

With F1's engine homologation rules getting ever tighter, and the rules limiting what can be changed on the power units, Abiteboul says there is now time pressure to get the design right.

"If you look at 2016, it is absolutely a crucial year," he said. "Everything might yet explode into something quite different, but according to the current regulations it is really the year where you need to have the right package. [If you do not] you are in a bad situation not just for one year but for many years.

"That is why the milestones we are about to get for 2016 are particularly important. And before that milestone we need to have as much intelligence as possible on what can be done. So this is very much a long-term plan.

"This [Illien] is an external support; it is not an internal support. It is a company and it is a supplier and it is part of Renault's road map to progress."

Originally on Autosport.com