Renault boss Frederic Vasseur says the team has no pressure to achieve results in the early races of 2016.
Renault returns to the sport this year as a constructor after buying the struggling Lotus team late last year. The team has a big performance deficit to overcome to Mercedes and Ferrari but Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has outlined a three-year plan to return to the podium, something Vasseur admits limits expectations for the 2016 season, which starts with next weekend's Australian Grand Prix.
"We know very well that we started this project extremely late and that where we need to go is ambitious, but right now we are not under pressure to achieve results," Vasseur said. "The road map from Carlos Ghosn is very clear: he wants to fight for podiums in our third year of competition. Therefore we have to make the right moves, and not rush to deliver in Melbourne.
"If you want to stick to the road map and fight for podiums in three years, you have to look at your competitors ... look at their resources, personnel and then you need to have the same targets to fight with them consistently. I am very happy with the quality of the staff so far as the team is dedicated and focussed on the job. Now we have to supplement the workforce we have, but we will do it correctly and find the right people."
Renault has already reported significant progress with the reliability and driveability of its power unit over the winter. However, Vasseur is still keeping his expectations in check and says the team must maintain a "realistic" mindset.
"It is very difficult to see where we are ahead of the start of the season. We need to focus on our job and try to improve where we can rather than spending time analysing where we are in relative terms. We have to fight the entire grid and everyone has the same target: to go faster than the guys around them. We need to keep our opposition under pressure and never give up.
"It won't be an easy task as we started very late for this season, but we will see for 2017. Ultimately it doesn't matter where we start, but we need to deliver in line with our targets. We will always aim to finish in the points, but bearing in mind that we only created the team in December, we need to be realistic and not start pointing the finger at anyone."