Renault says it will be ready for the F1 season opener in Australia

The French engine manufacturer has had a tough first two tests, with all four of its teams hitting trouble on a regular basis.

But the firm's head of track operations Remi Taffin believes that the ground Renault has made up so far proves that it can make a lot more progress between now and the first race.

Light at the end of the tunnel for Renault

"There is still room to play with and we hope to have everything working together at maximum performance when we get to Melbourne," said Taffin.

"I think we will be ready to run [at the Australian GP], but it depends what performance we will get there.

"We have a programme to do [before then] and if we do it maybe we have a chance to do well over there.

"If you look where we were three weeks ago and where we are now; if we make the same step to Melbourne I will be happy."

Taffin believes that, despite the problems encountered by Red Bull, Lotus, Toro Rosso and Caterham in Bahrain last week, the worst of Renault's issues are now behind it.

"We are now far from having all the issues we had before," he said. "Many are fixed, but we still see a few.

"The major ones are now behind us, so we can start building up programmes and try many items.

"We are making progress. We are now in a position to tick every box on the list. "We have good support from our factory and our teams, and we are all working together.

"When the problems are fixed - and we are close to fixing them - then we can move on."