Renault aiming for the podium

Renault F1 Team's engineering director, Pat Symonds, is confident that this afternoon Renault will be in the hunt for the podium.

Q: Pat, the two Renaults are P6 and P9 -- is that a disappointment?

Pat Symonds It might be easy to be a little disappointed looking at the positions, but I firmly believe the truth is rather different. We made some good improvements to the car during practice, and we have been paying very close attention to the conditions of the tyres after what happened in Monaco, to ensure we keep them in good condition for 300 km. We were very satisfied with the practice results, and I think that may have led us to a strategy slightly different to that employed by some other teams.

Q: Is that something to do with the revised qualifying format introduced at this race?

PS: I certainly think that there is more variation than we have seen at the first few races this season. I firmly believe though, that by the end of the race McLaren and ourselves will be challenging for the podium. It will be important to preserve the tyres in what are likely to be very hot conditions, and I think we may see a performance differential emerge according to who manages the situation best.

Q: What about Ferrari -- they seem menacing...

PS: I think they are something of a dark horse for (the race). They have secured reasonably good grid positions, and on high fuel loads have shown a good turn of speed this weekend. We know that they can never be discounted and this weekend, I have a feeling that they will make a strong comeback from their recent misfortunes.

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