A closer look at Renault's resurgence

Inevitably, it's been the exploits of the Big Four (McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes) and the return of Michael Schumacher that has garnered most of the attention in the season's first four grands prix. But, for me, the Renault performance has been one of 2010's great pluses.

Okay, let's not get too carried away. It's not been earth-shattering but it's been significantly better than many were predicting at the back end of last year. After the first four races they have 46 points on the board, only 12 fewer than Mercedes and 28 clear of Force India among the mid-grid battlers. The elements may have helped but Robert Kubica has repeatedly troubled the big boys rather than occupying his projected station in the midfield.

Late last year I asked Daniele Morelli, Robert Kubica's manager, how things were looking for 2010 after it became known that BMW was withdrawing and all sorts of rumours were flying about Renault in the aftermath of 'Crashgate.' Morelli smiled, blew out his cheeks and gave one of those wide, expansive 'who knows...' shrugs.

You had to worry about Renault's immediate future. The manufacturers were dropping like flies and the Regie, of course, not only had a works team but supplied engines to a team that was winning races. If they knocked it all on the head there was going to be serious implications for the paddock.

Those who have been around a bit started to wonder what was going on in the background and precisely why 'Crashgate' surfaced a whole year after it happened when it had been quite obvious to anyone with half a brain at the time. Flavio Briatore, admittedly, had just told Piquet Jr that his services would no longer be required, which was probably the catalyst, but there were other mutterings.

One was that Renault would have it explained to them how desperately serious this whole business was, and what an awful PR disaster it was going to be for them when it became public, which, sadly, nobody could do anything to stop...

Now, if it could be pointed out that it was all down to Briatore and Pat Symonds, who had in the meantime fallen on their swords, it might just be possible for Renault to emerge, while not exactly smelling of roses, at least without being dragged too excruciatingly through the mud. But for that to happen, it would be awfully convenient if they carried on racing and supplying engines. And perhaps the sale of 75% rather than 100% of the operation to Genii Capital was the compromise. Renault was still there in name at least.

But you certainly had to ask questions about the form in which they would still be there. Bob Bell filling the role of team principal was as an apt an illustration of a team in transition as you could get. Which is in no way to denigrate Bob. It's just that he's not exactly the sort to profile on yachts, chase models or start nightclubs and clothing lines called 'Billionaire.' Whenever Bell opens his mouth, he's lucid and illuminating, but he still seemed like the proverbial square peg in the round hole. Not because he couldn't perform that role - I'm sure he could, and did - it's just that with Pat gone, an uncertain future and cost cuts, you kind of figured he had better things to be doing.

It worried you too, when Timo Glock elected to go the Virgin Racing route when he apparently could have joined Renault. No disrespect to John Booth, Nick Wirth and their men, but here was a start-up that would clearly take time, with Timo coming off the back of two years at Toyota and needing to move his career on. It was odd. Until you thought about it.

At the time Timo had to make his mind up, if someone had offered you a team with an uncertain future, without a good particularly good chassis, whose highly respected engineering director was facing a ban and, oh yes, your team-mate was going to be Robert Kubica, you could have been forgiven for running a million miles in the opposite direction. Driving against Kubica in a poor car could very easily have been the fastest route to oblivion.

Robert Kubica, Renault, Chinese GP © LAT

To be honest, I thought Romain Grosjean got a bit of a raw deal. He looked a little incident prone, sure enough, but a man displaying the pace he did in GP2 who would regularly finish a practice session within a couple of tenths of Fernando Alonso, deserved another look, in my book. I wasn't surprised to see him win the opening round of the FIA GT1 championship in Abu Dhabi but it was still a good effort given that his only experience of having a roof over his head outside of his own front door came on ice at the Andros Trophy last winter.

In the end, Renault's decision to go with Vitaly Petrov alongside Kubica also made you think that cash was indeed in short supply given rumours of the Russian's backers swelling the team's coffers by $15m. But here I must apologise. Having dubbed him 'Vitally, $15m' before the season began, you have to say that Petrov has done a half decent job. And Kubica, of course, has done an outstanding one.

At launch, the technical brains described Renault's R30 as a simple design and the team itself admitted they had ground to close if they were to return to the halcyon days of 2005-6. So far though, they appear to be doing it. In dry qualifying conditions in Bahrain, Kubica lined up ninth and was 1.78s shy of pole. In Australia, where his aggression and commitment was awesome to behold, he was ninth again, 1.46s from pole.

When pure driving ability was more relevant in the mixed conditions of Malaysia it was no surprise that Kubica qualified sixth and finished fourth, to go with his great second in the wet Australian race. But in China, his R30 now fitted with a new, wider diffuser, Kubica got in among the big boys on a dry track, a couple of tenths down on Massa's Ferrari and ahead of Schumacher's Mercedes.

Okay, we suspect that Schumacher may have degraded the rear of his car in China to try to achieve a balance and to the serious detriment of rear traction, but the fact is that Kubica qualified within 0.8s of Vettel's pole which, it's worth pointing out, was a quarter of a second better than anyone else.

That is highly encouraging, as was Robert's fifth place behind two McLarens, one Mercedes and one Ferrari.

"What I'd call a typical Robert drive," said new Renault team principal Eric Boullier. "He was simply perfect once again. He lost out under the second safety car, which was something of a frustration, but then he looked after his tyres at a good pace and scored the maximum possible points. He was excellent."

Petrov too, got home in the points in China. He looks highly impressive in the wet, showed in Malaysia that he is not bowed by reputation, audaciously re-passing Lewis Hamilton, and after causing his crew a lunchtime panic when he dropped the car out of the last corner in FP3 in Shanghai, rewarded the team with its first double points finish.

Vitaly Petrov, Renault, Chinese GP © LAT

"Vitaly put in a great drive," Boullier said. "It's never easy for a rookie when the conditions are changing all the time. But once everybody got onto the same tyres in the second half of the race, he just got faster and faster and in the final laps was the quickest car on track. He has some strong qualities: his speed and his calmness under pressure. You always have to give young drivers time. Kobayashi and Hülkenberg, the other rookies in established teams, have struggled to finish races and score points this year, and they both have more experience in an F1 car."

Renault has always been a team of real racers. They're not good with histrionics. Legend has it that one day Jean Alesi was a little flaky and emotional at a Silverstone test, so they locked him in the truck until he sorted himself out! They adore an uncomplicated guy who just jumps in the car and wrings its neck. They loved that about Schumacher and Alonso and now they're loving it about Kubica.

The big question is, with everyone scheduling updates at Barcelona, will Renault find itself closer still, or further away?

"In terms of development, we're clawing back a tenth here and a tenth there at each race," Boullier says. "Everybody is pushing themselves to the limit and the hard work is beginning to pay off. It will be more of the same from us in Spain. There will be more new parts but we don't know what the other teams will bring, so we must be cautious. There's every possibility that the competitive hierarchy could shift, perhaps to our advantage, perhaps not."

No promises then, but they're hoping...