Video and pictures: Renault Sport unveils the RS18 F1 2018 car

Renault have become the fifth Formula 1 team to launch their new car for the 2018 season.

The RS18 was unveiled today and will be driven by Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul told Autosport.com that the target for 2018 was to see “continued progression through results”.

Abiteboul said: “Last year was successful in many ways. It was the second year in our rebuilding and a further step towards our long-term plans and aims. Our headline target [for 2018] is to show continued progression through results. We want to be able to showcase our progression in every regard; power unit, chassis, operations, drivers.

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“Everything must improve and we must continue to grow. We want to demonstrate this in many different ways, from the teams we will be directly racing against, to the gap to the leaders, including also our fan base and the respect that our team will inspire in our way we behave on and off track.”

Meanwhile, Renault have announced that Jack Aitken will be the team’s third and reserve driver for the 2018 Formula 1 season. Aitken, who is a member of the Renault Sport Academy, told Autosport.com it was an “amazing” feeling to be appointed by the team.

He said: “It hasn’t quite processed yet, but I’m going to step up my involvement with the team quite a lot. Over the first Barcelona test, it will start to feel real and sink in a little bit more. The role gives me an opportunity to be closer to Nico and Carlos and learn from them, as well as observing the race team, the engineers and how everything operates.”

In pictures: Renault Sport RS18