Renault boss Frederic Vasseur says much of the progress the team has made this year has not been visible externally but will play a big role in 2017.
Renault has endured a tough season since returning to the grid as a manufacturer, which it did following a protracted buyout of Lotus. The team has scored points at just one race, the Russian Grand Prix, and posted the slowest qualifying times in Italy last time out.
However, with the team's focus already shifted to the big 2017 rule changes, Vasseur thinks Renault has made big steps forward on an operational level.
"We are all very much focused on 2017 and yet we must continue to strive for the best results possible in the upcoming races," Vasseur said. "It is tough for the team of course but we can clearly see progression in areas that are not always visible externally.
"This is all part of the building of this team. We must concentrate on this and work on areas that can make a difference in the longer term: for example tyre management, how we manage our race weekends and improving the car's regular performance.
"Any good work and improvements made on track are useful for 2017 and beyond. We must keep this motivation -- we have a great team of mechanics and engineers and we are doing positive work in areas such as pitstops -- we did the fastest pitstop in Monza with 2.1s! For me this is proof of the hard work done by all in the team, their commitment and resilience in tough times."
Vasseur says the Renault's struggles in Belgium and Italy were good for the team's resilience.
"The last two races have been challenging and characterbuilding for the team in terms of results. Our global performance was good in Spa and we achieved our best qualifying results of the season so far, but unfortunately in the race we had Kevin's accident and we couldn't convert our qualifying pace into a deserved good result in the end. We expected Monza to be a tricky weekend and we are now fully concentrated on Singapore and beyond."