Renault is targeting fifth place in the constructors' championship in 2017 and admits the unknown of Honda prevented the French manufacturer from aiming higher.

The new Renault was launched in London on Tuesday, with Renault Sport president Jerome Stoll making clear the team's target of fifth place for the coming season. Managing director Cyril Abiteboul admits the top three teams of 2016 will likely continue to lead the way but believes Renault has a chance to be best of the rest.

"I expect Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, in no particular order even if I have a preferred order to be at the front," Abiteboul said. "Then I would expect ... it's a big unknown for us what Honda will have done in terms of engine development because I am sure McLaren is capable of producing a very decent car, in particular with such a dramatic change to the aero regulations.

"Then I think it will be interesting to see the mix. We should be fighting against Williams, Force India, Toro Rosso. We have the same power unit as Toro Rosso, they have two very good drivers, they are very well established, so we believe that we should be fighting against these type of teams."

Asked by RACER if the target of fifth place is because he is unsure what Honda will do and what could lead to McLaren leapfrogging the midfield, Abiteboul replied: "Yeah, you discovered me! Exactly. My cover is blown now!

"No, absolutely. It's that sort of thing when you're thinking about your target, you are not really thinking about who is behind, you're thinking about who is ahead. We know Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull will be ahead. The question is McLaren, Renault, I have my view on Williams.

"I think this season will also really be an arms race. I really feel for the teams who are under-resourced because clearly when I see this car that we are presenting today is not the car that will test in Barcelona and the car in Barcelona is not the car that will race in Melbourne. Race by race we've got an introduction of new parts.

"Frankly, I have been in a small team [Caterham], you know that it was not super successful, but I really feel for those teams that will have to keep that resource, the regulations will be very difficult for small teams. I think most of the car build budget for Force India will be gone by now just to cope with the new regulations. So that is something that we are also taking into account. With the level of resources that we have we should be easily capable of beating teams like Haas, like Force India and so on and so forth."

RACER's Formula 1 coverage is presented by Grand Prix Tours. Feel the power and the glory of Grand Prix racing now via Grand Prix Tours' Pick 8 competition.

See the rest here:

Renault targets P5, wary of Honda's progress - Racer