Dennis doubts Renault challenge

Jenson Button recently predicted that Renault would be able to challenge McLaren this season and in the Brazilian Grand Prix it appeared the prediction was justified. Button and team mate Jarno Trulli spent most of the race fighting with David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen: Coulthard only gained advantage when Trulli took a pit stop and Raikkonen struggled to pass Button although he eventually did. Unfortunately Trulli suffered an engine failure but Button finished fourth for the second race in a row, just behind Coulthard in third after Raikkonen also retired.

Button is now hoping to be the fastest Brit on track and has Coulthard in his sights as the man to beat. According to the Englishman, in a few more races Renault will be equal to McLaren's pace: "We were 0.3s faster than David Coulthard's best lap during the race, on the same strategy and the important thing right now is that we are fighting with the top teams," said Button. "We are getting closer each race. I think we will be on McLaren's pace within the next few races."

At the beginning of the season it was last year's fourth placed team Sauber that Renault had targeted to beat but with three races gone Renault are fourth in the Constructors' standings, just two points behind McLaren. If the team continue to improve, Renault could be a problem to McLaren but with fourteen races still to go it's anyone's guess. McLaren boss Ron Dennis is not about to get worried and when asked if he thought Renault could be a threat his succinct reply was: "I doubt it."