Fisichella rules out wins for Renault

Giancarlo Fisichella believes Renault can forget about winning races in a near future following their struggles at the start of the season

World champions Renault endured on Saturday a dismal qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, where they had been on pole and won the past two seasons.

Fisichella finished in 12th position, right behind teammate Heikki Kovalainen and both men were outqualified by Red Bull's Mark Webber, whose team use customer Renault engines.

"At the moment we are miles away compared to Ferrari and McLaren especially, so we cannot fight for victory in a single race," Fisichella told reporters after qualifying.

"For that we cannot fight for the championship.

"The situation is quite clear. We are not quick enough," the Italian added. "We are just struggling with the general grip everywhere, there is not much consistency and it is hard to make a proper lap.

"That is the reason we are 11th and 12th. So it is quite difficult at the moment.

"Maybe in the race it is going to be a little bit better compared to some people in front of us, but we are just on target to score some points."

Although Renault made some changes to their car in the Sepang test last week, Fisichella admits it was not enough, and the Italian believes the team will need a big step forward to get close to their main rivals.

"They made some small changes in the last test here. But obviously it is not enough. Yesterday I felt the feeling to be tough to be in the top ten and today was like that. We need a big step forward to be better and to fight for the top ten positions."

Fisichella also said Renault's problems have nothing to do with the exit of world champion Fernando Alonso from the team at the end of last season, and he reckons the main reason for their problems is their struggle with the Bridgestone tyres.

"I think it is not because Alonso has gone that the car is no good any more," he said. "With Alonso there was the possibility to have the same thing happen. Even he would struggle to get into the top ten, so that is the answer.

"We changed the tyres, and we didn't make a proper good lap with those tyres. So it is just our problem. We need to fix the car for those tyres, at the moment it is not easy but they are pushing really hard."