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Kovalainen: Renault are now level with McLaren
Wednesday 14th March 2007
Heikki Kovalainen has claimed that Renault achieved a dramatic breakthrough in last week's test at Bahrain and are capable of matching McLaren in Melbourne.
The team has previously spoken gloomily of their prospects in the 2007 opener, with Giancarlo Fisichella recently complaining that Renault were half-a-second slower than both McLaren and Ferrari, and Technical Director Pat Symonds declaring that a podium would be the extent of the World Champion's aspirations in Australia.
However, although he concedes that pace-setters Ferrari are currently without peer on the grid, Kovalainen believes that Renault are now quick enough to challenge McLaren this weekend.
"By the end of our time in Bahrain, I was happy and confident we were going in the right direction, and that we can be competitive in Melbourne," he wrote in his column for the BBC. "We were not as fast as we wanted when we started testing, but towards the end of the tests we improved the car all the time and the last week in Bahrain was the best."
"The biggest problem we had before the Bahrain test was to get the best out of the new tyres on a qualifying run. But with the set-up changes we made over there I think we managed to do that, so now the car is also quick on the first lap and we get the best out of the new tyres. That was a big step for us.
"It looked like we were catching up a little bit throughout the tests and at the end there was only a couple of 10ths in it between us and McLaren, close enough to start a real fight with them, and that's what we're going to be targeting.
"BMW Sauber also looked quite competitive but only time will tell in Melbourne how the situation really is. Ferrari are clearly a little bit ahead of everybody else."
But making pre-season predictions on the basis of results in winter testing is an activity willingly committed only by the naïve and foolhardy (along with P-F1 staffers), as acknowledged by the Finn.
"Testing can be misleading. You never really know what the other teams are doing. But I believe it's going to be a close season.
"At least these top four teams are closely matched, and if you make any mistakes or do not maximise your potential, you can be out of the top 10 quite easily."
Kovalainen: Renault are now level with McLaren
Wednesday 14th March 2007
Heikki Kovalainen has claimed that Renault achieved a dramatic breakthrough in last week's test at Bahrain and are capable of matching McLaren in Melbourne.
The team has previously spoken gloomily of their prospects in the 2007 opener, with Giancarlo Fisichella recently complaining that Renault were half-a-second slower than both McLaren and Ferrari, and Technical Director Pat Symonds declaring that a podium would be the extent of the World Champion's aspirations in Australia.
However, although he concedes that pace-setters Ferrari are currently without peer on the grid, Kovalainen believes that Renault are now quick enough to challenge McLaren this weekend.
"By the end of our time in Bahrain, I was happy and confident we were going in the right direction, and that we can be competitive in Melbourne," he wrote in his column for the BBC. "We were not as fast as we wanted when we started testing, but towards the end of the tests we improved the car all the time and the last week in Bahrain was the best."
"The biggest problem we had before the Bahrain test was to get the best out of the new tyres on a qualifying run. But with the set-up changes we made over there I think we managed to do that, so now the car is also quick on the first lap and we get the best out of the new tyres. That was a big step for us.
"It looked like we were catching up a little bit throughout the tests and at the end there was only a couple of 10ths in it between us and McLaren, close enough to start a real fight with them, and that's what we're going to be targeting.
"BMW Sauber also looked quite competitive but only time will tell in Melbourne how the situation really is. Ferrari are clearly a little bit ahead of everybody else."
But making pre-season predictions on the basis of results in winter testing is an activity willingly committed only by the naïve and foolhardy (along with P-F1 staffers), as acknowledged by the Finn.
"Testing can be misleading. You never really know what the other teams are doing. But I believe it's going to be a close season.
"At least these top four teams are closely matched, and if you make any mistakes or do not maximise your potential, you can be out of the top 10 quite easily."
