Renault team principal Flavio Briatore has urged Formula One followers not to write his team off until the season moves into its European heart, claiming that there is more to come from the R28 over the next month or so.
Although the team has amassed just six points in the opening two races - and five of those from a hard-fought, if somewhat fortunate, fourth place for Fernando Alonso in Australia - Briatore is convinced that it is too early to rate Renault's place in the pecking order.
"It does not make sense to judge a car after one or two races," he told the official Formula One website, "[The right time is] around the Turkish Grand Prix. At the moment, we are in a very promising development run, because it would be completely unrealistic to think we can find those missing seconds to McLaren and Ferrari within days.
"McLaren and Ferrari have a fast car, but look what happened to Ferrari in Australia. If we had what you call a ‘midfield car', then Ferrari had no car at all in Melbourne! We will have to wait and see how it will be at the next couple of races.
"We did as good a job as possible - as everybody else did - and I still cannot judge where we stand at the moment. You can do well in the morning, then you get a problem with the gearbox and a good result vanishes. As I said, wait three or four races and then ask me again, as I will have a pretty good idea of what our status is. At the moment, everything is just about guessing - there is nothing concrete."
The Italian's optimism shone brighter in comments made to Reuters in the wake of a tough weekend in Malaysia, where he claimed that matching McLaren and Ferrari was a possibility.
"In Barcelona, we have the new package and, absolutely, yes [we can win]," he insisted, countering his own pre-season suggestions that success would be hard to come by.
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Although the team has amassed just six points in the opening two races - and five of those from a hard-fought, if somewhat fortunate, fourth place for Fernando Alonso in Australia - Briatore is convinced that it is too early to rate Renault's place in the pecking order.
"It does not make sense to judge a car after one or two races," he told the official Formula One website, "[The right time is] around the Turkish Grand Prix. At the moment, we are in a very promising development run, because it would be completely unrealistic to think we can find those missing seconds to McLaren and Ferrari within days.
"McLaren and Ferrari have a fast car, but look what happened to Ferrari in Australia. If we had what you call a ‘midfield car', then Ferrari had no car at all in Melbourne! We will have to wait and see how it will be at the next couple of races.
"We did as good a job as possible - as everybody else did - and I still cannot judge where we stand at the moment. You can do well in the morning, then you get a problem with the gearbox and a good result vanishes. As I said, wait three or four races and then ask me again, as I will have a pretty good idea of what our status is. At the moment, everything is just about guessing - there is nothing concrete."
The Italian's optimism shone brighter in comments made to Reuters in the wake of a tough weekend in Malaysia, where he claimed that matching McLaren and Ferrari was a possibility.
"In Barcelona, we have the new package and, absolutely, yes [we can win]," he insisted, countering his own pre-season suggestions that success would be hard to come by.
crash.net