Kubica not making predictions for Monza

"Monza is a difficult track to predict as it has quite different characteristics to all the other tracks we've been to," Kubica told reporters on Thursday.

"Especially this year, with the F-duct, it might be a different story.

"We have seen in the past here, often midfield cars are very competitive and the cars can be more mixed [than in other races], so hopefully we will have a competitive car here."

Renault successfully raced its version of the F-duct at the Belgian Grand Prix and the modification helped Kubica to a podium finish.

And the Pole was encouraged by the results from the new F-duct at Spa, saying: "In the coming races we should be more competitive because the F-duct is clearly giving us advantages. Of course, Spa is one of the best circuits for [using] the F-duct, but looking at where we were before we introduced the F-duct, we should be closer to the top."

However, Kubica was less confident that the F-duct would produce large-scale improvements at Monza - a track that many had thought would challenge Renault.

Using different wings due to the need for greater downforce could, he feared, negate the advance from the F-duct.

"Here in Monza it is a bit different [from Spa] because we are using different wings, and the F-duct influence on the driving is much smaller. Top speed is still very important, there are very long straights here."