Briatore warns not to write Renault off

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher scored in Germany his third consecutive victory of the season to reduce the gap to Fernando Alonso in the drivers' standings to just 11 points with six races remaining.

The Spanish driver and his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella were unable to fight at the top, with Renault not leading a single lap for the first time this year.

Briatore, however, has warned not to underestimate Renault.

"Every time you don't win and you don't get many points it's irritating," the Italian told Gazzetta dello Sport. "Anyway, we're taking home six points and after the first pit stops we thought we wouldn't get even one.

"But now we must stay calm and analyze the reasons why certain things happened, but there are still many races. Everyone could see the tyres, on TV too. Now we certainly must work more, both us and Michelin.

"Let's wait before talking about a Ferrari comeback. They've demonstrated to be solid up to now, so let's see if they can keep it up. Last year it looked like McLaren could win the constructors' championship, instead we won it.

"Let's wait, we bury the dead only when they're cold."

Alonso finished a distant fifth in Germany after struggling with tyre problems. Fisichella was sixth after suffering similar problems and the Italian said his car was very hard to drive.

"It was difficult to keep the car on the road and make consistent laptimes," Fisichella said. "Several times it was undriveable: under braking and when accelerating it lacked grip. It's a problem we had in Magny-Cours too.

"Obviously something needs to be looked at again because while the Michelins aren't perfect, someone else on the same tyres ended up in front of us."

Fisichella has conceded Ferrari are superior at the moment and he admitted he did not expect the Italian squad to enjoy such a strong moment.

"The championship has opened again and I didn't expect it. Ferrari are superior, we have dropped a bit and this is the result. Now let's try to understand why, because with the advantage we had at the beginning of the season, to come up with a fifth and sixth place is really poor."