Briatore Vows to Let his Drivers Fight

Fisichella's retirements in Malaysia and Bahrain have led to him dropping 16 points behind Alonso and, with Renault's rivals all likely to start closing in on the French manufacturer, there is a chance the team's title hopes could be compromised if their drivers fight between themselves and take points off each other.

But team boss Flavio Briatore has made it clear that he will not impose team orders between the two drivers yet - and that he will be more than happy to see the pair fight it out for the title.

"Fernando and Giancarlo are two winners and if they were to fight for the Championship I'd let them," said Briatore in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport. "Giancarlo has deeply changed. It's a pleasure to watch him drive, he's much stronger mentally and he reacts coolly to difficulties."

Briatore is confident that Renault's position as the early-season pace-setter in Formula One can be maintained, and he admits that he is more comfortable by the fact that Toyota have been their closest challengers than reigning champions Ferrari.

"On paper we are the team to beat at Imola," said Briatore. "To have Toyota behind us lets me sleep at night; it wouldn't be like that if there was Ferrari instead."

Fisichella himself is well aware that he cannot afford to lose further ground to Alonso at this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix - and he is hopeful that Renault will again be fighting at the front.

"Imola will be a special weekend, as it's a home race and I come from two ugly races," he said. "I think we'll be in front again even if the others, especially Ferrari and McLaren, have made some progress. At Imola I won my first F3 race and scored my first championship points in a Jordan, so it's not an ordinary track for me."