Alonso sure Renault can raise its game

The French squad has not shown the kind of pace needed to fight near the top in Australia and Malaysia, with Alonso having a fifth place as his best result so far.

The Spaniard, however, is convinced Renault will be able to react like it did in the second half of the 2008 season.

"Absolutely," he said when asked if he believe Renault can improve the car. "I believe in this team and we saw last year that they know how to fight back and find performance from the car.

"It's still very early days and everyone in the team is working hard to develop the R29 so that we can be more competitive in the next few races. I was disappointed not to score points in Malaysia as my aim is to score points at every race this season.

"Obviously it's difficult to change the car until we get back to Europe, but we have learnt a lot from the first two races and we certainly made progress in Malaysia. We need to take another step forward in Shanghai and hopefully score points."

Renault's technical director Bob Bell says the team has so far failed to maximise its potential, but reckons there is still much more in store.

"It was clearly below par," said Bell. "We weren't running any new parts so it was basically the same car we had run in Melbourne and we saw a similar level of competitiveness.

"However, during winter testing we have seen a higher level of performance from the car and so we know there is more to come.

"It's just at the moment we're not extracting that performance from the car. I suspect there is something quite subtle and sensitive that we need to put right, but it's a case of understanding what that is and resolving the issue.

"There are definitely some changes we will make to the car for China to try and restore our performance to where we want to be, but it won't take us to the front of the field just yet."