“Last week, we completed one of our most intensive tests of the year so far, and our test team worked tirelessly to prove a myriad of components alongside a massive amount of effort being put in across the organisation," he said, "We have a fight on our hands to maintain, and ideally extend, the lead we have in the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ table.
Ferrari and
BMW are not standing still, so our job is to keep providing Fernando and Lewis with a car capable of winning. There is no complacency and the motivation is considerable."
Renault – Giancarlo Fisichella (#3), Heikki Kovalainen (#4):
What Whitmarsh failed to mention is the fact that reigning world champion Renault is rapidly becoming a threat to the top three, although BMW Sauber is the team most closely in the firing line as the
regie improves. Engineering director Pat Symonds promises that there is more to come too.
"Although the results don’t quite tell the full story, I think it’s indicative of the fact that the tide is turning - we are very close to BMW now and racing them hard," he claims, "There’s plenty of activity at the factory, that’s for sure. As we better understand the problems we have been suffering from, we are able to improve the car. There will be enhancements for France and Britain. And that’s in addition to continue the push with our normal development processes. There are a lot of new bits coming for the car, and you can be certain that we will keep on fighting."
Symonds is confident that the improvement shown since Monaco will continue in France, where Magny-Cours has traditionally found favour with
Renault.
"Magny-Cours is known as a very smooth circuit – although the new final chicane now gives the cars a severe pounding," he says, "The challenge is very different to that of the low-medium downforce tracks in Canada and the USA and, if you look back to circuits like Barcelona, we were struggling there at the time. But since then, some very positive steps forward have been made, and I certainly believe our performance will be better."
