Fuente: © Renault F1 Team (English)
http://www.renaultf1.com/

Flavio Briatore: “We must still wait a few more races to judge our true position.”

/noticias.info/ Flavio, the team set an objective this year to return to a better performance level. After the Australian Grand Prix, do you have a better idea of the position of the team in the hierarchy?
No, it’s still very difficult to say. We will have to wait a few more races to have a precise idea of our current situation. 2007 was a very difficult year for us and we lost some ground, but it is not possible to find 1.5 or 1.7 seconds in a winter to return to the front at the beginning of the new season. We need to work even harder than the others and have an even more aggressive development programme.


Your views on the Australian Grand Prix?
Albert Park is a difficult circuit and a very hectic race for everyone. Alonso did well to finish in the points after a remarkable race. Unfortunately for Piquet we did not make his first Grand Prix easy and I am sorry about that. We had hoped to give him maximum mileage to allow him to learn the circuit and to build his confidence. In the end that was not the case and his race suffered as a result. So there are mixed feelings about the result because we were happy to score some important points, but at the same time we saw that we did not compare well with Ferrari, McLaren and maybe even BMW. On the other hand, it is difficult to say exactly where we are at the present time because Australia is always an unusual race. As I have said, we will have a more specific idea at the Spanish Grand Prix, especially as we will have some significant improvements to the car there.


In which area must you try and improve the R28?
It is important to note that this year we are in a completely different position to last year. Last year we quickly understood that we had gone in a different direction to the other teams and that the car was not going to be particularly competitive, and that it would be difficult to reverse this. This year is different. There is still work to do in all areas, but we have a good basis on which to build. We saw during the winter tests that we need to improve and we are in the process of developing the car so we should be able to make the most of the coming races. I am convinced that we have a real chance to progress.


What does Fernando think about the situation?
Fernando is very professional. He knew that this would not be an easy season. He would like to have a perfect car, but it’s not the case. But he is very excited and he is working hard with his engineers to find solutions and to improve the car. He gained a lot of experience last year and helped us a lot this winter, and he is determined to help us find a better level of performance and to continue improving. He brings a lot to the team.


How do you view Nelson’s debut?
He has been with us more than a year now. He worked hard last year as the team’s third driver and we were convinced that he was capable of being a race driver. The Australian Grand Prix is a difficult first Grand Prix for a driver, and we saw this last year with Heikki. This weekend in Sepang, we have seen another Nelson. He was able to drive as we expected and he completed his practice programme on Friday which means he is much more comfortable. He makes less mistakes, he seems happy with the car and I am sure that he can do a great race this weekend. He will continue his apprenticeship and keep improving, that is for sure.


What will the goal be from now on?
As I have already said, it remains difficult to say. We must still wait a few more races to judge our true position. Our ambitions depend on our level of competitiveness, but we must also take into account the performance and reliability of Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. Everybody continues to work and make progress.


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