Faure defends Trulli decision

Fisichella drove for the team between 1998 and 2001 when it was known as Benetton, but he failed to set the world alight and was dispatched to Jordan in 2002 where he secured his first ever grand prix victory for the team at the Brazilian Grand Prix a year later.

The win boosted his career and the Italian moved to Sauber this year hoping it would be a stepping stone to a top team in 2005. The decision proved to be the right one, but has come at the expense of Trulli who, besides Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, is the only driver to have won a race this year and is 14 points ahead of his highly-rated team-mate Fernando Alonso in the drivers' championship.

Faure admitted that the decision had been a tough one but said it tied in with the team's ambitions to be fighting for the constructor's championship in the next two years.

"Firstly, I would like to stress that this decision was not taken lightly," said Faure. "But Jarno has come to the end of his contract with the team, and we have already said that we want to be fighting for the championship in 2005 and 2006. In this light, we have taken the decision to recruit Giancarlo Fisichella.

"Partly, this is because change can help a team: it will help keep us sharp and aggressive, and avoid falling into comfortable routines. However, it is also because Giancarlo has shown a very impressive attacking approach in recent seasons. We believe he will complement Fernando well in our challenge for the constructors' championship.

"Ultimately, the only judge of our decision will be the results next year. We weighed up all the options, and went into a lot of detail, looking at lap-times in the races, in qualifying and many other factors. We have evaluated a lot of different opinions within the team, and then we made our decision.

"However, it is not because Jarno is leaving the team that we will not pay tribute to what he has achieved with, and for, us. He has done an excellent job for Renault in the past three seasons. It was a hard choice, but it is our job to make those choices."

Faure said the team found it preferable to experience the short-term loss of stability that comes with replacing a driver rather than have two drivers who had lost the competitiveness between them, which he hinted had happened between Trulli and Alonso.

"Overall, there was a feeling that perhaps we needed a little more challenge within the team. The harmony between our drivers was an undoubted asset in building the team as we have done over the past three years, but when you are at the top, you need to be more aggressive, we need to see a competitive edge between our drivers.

"That dynamic helps drive a team forward. Furthermore, I do not believe the harmony of the team will be affected in any major way. Giancarlo knows many people here already, and we have good memories of working with him. It will be a very strong driver pairing."