From oxfordmail.net/sport/ :
Pat Symonds, engineering chief for Oxfordshire-based Renault, is confident the team will bounce back strongly following their low-key start to the 2007 season.
The double and reigning constructors' champions from Enstone, near Chipping Norton, delivered an improved performance in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix after a disappointing start to the season in Australia.
Giancarlo Fisichella came home sixth, while Heikki Kovalainen was eighth to claim his maiden point in Formula 1, putting behind him the negativity that surrounded his debut in Melbourne.
However, the gap between Renault and the two leading protagonists in McLaren and Ferrari is considerable.
The French marque already trail constructors' championship leaders McLaren by 24 points at this early stage.
It would appear a third successive title is already a long shot, yet ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Symonds insists the team are pulling out all the stops to right the wrongs of the first two races.
"I think we achieved the best we could have hoped for in Sunday's race, especially after our qualifying performance on Saturday," said Symonds, Renault's executive director of engineering.
"Giancarlo went from 12th to sixth, and drove a good aggressive race, while Heikki's performance was solid.
"He erased the memory of Melbourne with a strong drive. The car was a bit more consistent and performed reasonably. So we raced well, and that's encouraging.
"But does that mean we are satisfied with our current situation? Absolutely not.
"We are working diligently and honestly to find the root of our current difficulties.
"At the same time, we have to keep on developing the car to compete at the track. If we simply throw our resources blindly at fixing the problems, by the time we have resolved them, we will only have fallen behind again."
Hmmm, wondering how you intend to move up a gear when you are already in the highest gear ? I think they will not even manage to pass BMW Sauber to challenge for third place in the constructor's championship
Now from eurosport.com :
The experienced Italian qualified seventh for Sunday's race, after just scraping through the second of three stages, while Finnish rookie team mate Heikki Kovalainen was 12th on the starting grid.
"Obviously it's not good at all," said Fisichella.
"At the beginning of the season, the aim was to fight for pole position and win the race. Tomorrow we just hope to score some points.
"It can only get better...it cannot be worse than this. It's going to be a very tough first part of the season."
Renault were champions in 2005 and 2006, with Spaniard Fernando Alonso also winning the drivers' title in both years, and Fisichella had hoped this season would be his big opportunity after Alonso left for McLaren.
"I feel a little bit disappointed because at the beginning of the season I was confident to fight for the championship. Unfortunately we cannot do that any more," he said.
"I am disappointed, but I need to do the best with what I have at the moment."
Fisichella is fifth in the championship with seven points from two races while Alonso has 18 after leading McLaren to a one-two in Malaysia.
In the constructors' standings, the French manufacturer is fourth with eight points to McLaren's 32.
Fisichella said seventh place on the Bahrain starting grid was a good result in the circumstances and hoped for some progress once the championship returned to Europe after the weekend.
"We are still hoping to make a big development and a better car," he said.
Well, why did it take that long to realize this ? We all saw this almost from the start of the season.
Good that they finally realize where they are standing
From eurosport.com :
Renault won the constructors' championship for the first time in 2005 and repeated the feat in 2006, while then lead driver Fernando Alonso simultaneously triumphed in the drivers' championship in consecutive seasons.
"It is three races into the season and we have not even taken off," Briatore admitted. "We have started off late.
"There are no miracles in this business and we cannot undo lost time.
"We need to put our act together and see how we can make use of this short break before the Spanish Grand Prix next month."
Alonso has defected to McLaren from the start of this 2007 season, leaving Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen to struggle in the cars while he shares the lead with team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen after three races.
Italian Fisichella is sixth, Finn Kovalainen tenth as the team which supplied engines to the successful Benetton and Williams' teams of the 1990s also struggles to cope with the enforced move to Bridgestone tyres.
"The McLarens do not have anything to lose," Briatore continued. "We need to correct the mistakes and we hope to do this within the next three races."
These are to be contested in Spain and Monaco in May, before Canada in June.
Hmm, well - these guys are really waking up and doing something about it. Just look at this thread, now even the team boss urges the team to improve. Very well - why does he have to tell them that ?
Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella doubts he will stand on the Formula One podium this year despite starting the season with high hopes at a team that won both championships in 2006 and 2005.
"This Renault was born bad," he said. "Of course you can never rule anything out in F1, even winning with this car. But I don't think I'll be back on the podium in 2007."
Fisichella took over from double world champion Fernando Alonso, who switched to McLaren at the end of last year, as Renault's effective team leader with a real hope of challenging for the title.
He won in Malaysia last year and also had four third places, one of them in Spain - the next race on the calendar this weekend.
This season he has scored just eight points from three races, with Renault fourth overall, and in Bahrain last month recognised that any title hopes had evaporated.
Only McLaren and Ferrari drivers have been on the podium so far this year.
"I don't see any chance of winning a race," Fisichella told Gazzetta dello Sport. "The aerodynamics are wrong. It's better to start straight away on the 2008 car than wasting time fixing a car born bad."
The Italian said the 2007 car had looked good in the wind tunnel before the season started but the reality on the circuit was different.
"Nobody expected a start to the season like this," he said. "We even thought about bringing back the championship-winning 2006 car but with these tyres we wouldn't have achieved anything."
Renault won their titles with Michelin, the French tyre manufacturer that withdrew from Formula One at the end of last year and left Japan's Bridgestone as sole supplier.
"Renault have got something wrong, our fault," said Fisichella. "The first part of the season is compromised. Without traction the car is inconsistent over a lap ... up to three weeks ago we did not know what to do.
"Now at least we have ideas. It's the wings that are not working," he added.
This is funny to read - during the entire thread their ambitions and hopes have slowly dissolved and now they don't even believe they can make it to the podium this year.