Formula One news

Renault looking for better balance

The Renault team was satisfied to walk away from Australia with four points, after Fernando Alonso crossed the finish line in fifth position. It was a bittersweet start to the season for the team as second driver, Nelsinho Piquet, spun off the track as a result of brake failure. Regardless of the results, however, the French team is still keen to improve the general balance of its R29.

"I don't think we have a specific problem," technical director Bob Bell explained. "I think that we need to lift our game in several areas to get more aerodynamic performance from the car. We've also got to get the balance of the car a bit more to the drivers' liking and work on the tuning of the KERS system to get more from it; so it's a question of maximising what we already already have in all areas, rather than a specific problem to resolve."

The heavy rain forecast for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix is likely to dash any predictions made although, under normal circumstances, Bell believes the 2005 and 2006 champions will have a package more suited to the Malaysian circuit to that of Australia. "The Sepang circuit is very smooth, which should be more to our advantage compared with the bumpier surface that caused us problems in Melbourne," he predicted. "I also think the KERS system will be more of a benefit in Malaysia as the circuit has a couple of long straights, so I'm confident we can do a better job this weekend.

"With Australia and Malaysia being back-to-back races, we won't be able to introduce any new developments in such a short space of time and so need to concentrate on getting more performance out of our existing package."

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