Formula One news

Renault sets sights on fourth

The Renault team is setting its sights firmly on finishing fourth in the constructors championship this season after two strong races in Hungary and Germany threw them back into contention in fifth in the chase, four points adrift of Toyota.

"You have to remember that Hungary is a very particular circuit and although Fernando did a great job of keeping Raikkonen behind him until the final pit-stop, this wasn't indicative of the pace of the two cars," said Renault's engineering director Pat Symonds, about his team's recent form. "Indeed, as soon as Raikkonen broke away from us, he was able to lap considerably quicker. But, having said all that, the rest of the weekend showed the improved pace of the R28 and the improvements that we have been making bit-by-bit over the last few races. So the performance in Hungary reinforces the belief that we are moving in the right direction and gives me confidence that we can finish fourth in the championship and end the season with the third fastest car."

"We saw that BMW had a poor weekend and Toyota had a good weekend, but I don't believe the pecking order suddenly changes," he added. "There are certainly trends, and at the moment we have a very distinct upward trend, whereas BMW have a little bit of a downward trend and Toyota seem to fluctuate. So I don't think that the race itself shows a change to the status quo, but merely reinforces the trends which have been developing for a little while."

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