Fisi plans working winter

The Italian believes it could take until Christmas to adapt to his new surroundings and find his way with Michelin tyres (he used Bridgestones during his time at Jordan and Sauber).

"The [test] sessions between now and Christmas will be about learning," he told the Renault F1 website. "We are using the old car so it is not my ultimate speed that will be important - it is about getting used to working with the team again, how I can drive the tyres and just understanding the whole package. There is a lot of work to do.

"I think it will be quite a difficult element of our programme, to work out and understand their behaviour as well as testing the new specification tyres for 2005. It is another thing that I need to adapt to, but we have enough time this winter to get on top of it without any problems.

"By the end of the winter, I want to be completely ready to evaluate the new car as soon as it starts running. We hope that it will be quick straight away and it will be important to get plenty of mileage on it and on the engine before the first race. That will be a demanding period for the entire team and I want to make sure I am fully prepared for it."

Fisichella's recent seat fitting at the team's factory in England has only motivated him further. "It was quite an emotional day when I went back there for the first time, but everything went very smoothly," he said. "I did my seat fitting, and there were no problems at all getting comfortable in the car, and then met people around the factory.

"In fact, I left that evening even more excited about next year. I am looking forward to the challenge."