Alain Prost believes 2017 will prove how well Renault's operation is performing and says the team's revamped power unit is "very promising" for the upcoming campaign.
Renault launched the R.S.17 on Tuesday at an event in London, a car it has given the target of finishing fifth in this year's championship. Last year's return to the grid was a tough year as the team laboured to ninth in what was seen as a transition between its takeover of Lotus and the sweeping regulation changes coming in this season.
Four-time world champion Prost, who has been made the team's special advisor, believes 2017 will highlight the hard work done to bring the various parts of Renault's F1 operation together.
"I think it's a very important season because it's the first year that all the team were able to build the car -- Enstone on one side and Viry on the other -- and think about the integration of the engine," Prost told ESPN. "The engine is a completely new engine, its very promising but we need to see what it does on the track.
"So it's very important we go back to a normal performance, even if we know its much, much, much too soon to beat the top teams. But the position of fifth in the championship is still ambitious but its realistic and I hope we can reach this objective."
Tuesday's launch was the first car F1's media has seen in the flesh, following Sauber's online launch on Monday. During the presentation before the covers came off the car, Prost said the new reminded him of those he drove in his career.
Speaking about the new generation of cars, he said: "I think it's important we can have some impressive cars as we need to show people that F1 is something special, which it is, and maybe to bring new, maybe younger people who don't follow F1 too much."