Bell adamant Renault will bounce back

Renault's best race result so far has been a fifth place finish, and the team have scored only nine points, 33 less than at this time last year.

The French squad, champions for the past two seasons, have been hard at work after this year's car proved uncompetitive due to a lack of overall grip.

Bell insisted it will take time before the team understand the cause of all their problems, but he is convinced that their work will pay off.

"We have areas of investigation that are now pretty clear," said Bell. "However, it's not the work of a moment to get to the bottom of the problems.

"It is a complicated process, but a clearly-defined one. We are applying the techniques that brought us success in recent years: approach things logically, methodically and pragmatically.

"We know that when we have corrected the problem we are suffering from, we will be back at the front. It's not as if we are sat around scratching our heads wondering how we can develop the car."

He added: "The car lacks overall grip. It is not working as well as our data from the factory suggests it should. Among the tools at our disposal, the wind tunnel is without a doubt the most effective.

"However, we are improving our understanding of the wind tunnel all the time, and it's a fact that it can never reproduce every detail of the conditions we encounter out on track.

It is a very difficult area to get right, and sometimes the most insignificant of changes can harm the performance of the whole package."

Bell admitted he is particularly motivated to see his team return to the top of the field, so as to demonstrate that the French outfit still have what it takes to win races.

"More than anything, I would like to prove to everybody that we can bounce back," he added.

"I want to demonstrate that Renault is a tough team, and in a way, I would get more satisfaction from reversing the trend of our performances so far this year, than I would have done from successfully defending our championship.

"We will solve our problems, and we will fight for race wins again."

He also hit out at speculation suggesting the design of some of the parts in the R27 are outdated by now.

"People are saying a lot of things at the moment, and everybody seems to have their own ideas," said Bell. "There are a lot of false rumours surrounding the R27 and the only thing that you can be sure of at the moment is that it's all speculation.

"Among the supposed theories that are being bandied about, those that mention the v-keel are completely unfounded. This part of the car is absolutely not the cause of our difficulties, that much is very clear."