Fisichella to get engine boost at Imola

Fisichella's retirement from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix means he is on a different engine cycle to Alonso, and that has allowed him to get his hands on the new more-powerful power-unit for Imola.

Speaking about his hopes for the race, Fisichella said: "I am going to every race this year looking to score maximum points. I think Renault has an edge at the moment, so we have to aim for the victory at every Grand Prix.

"I have a fresh engine, and a bit more power from the new specification, so that gives me a fantastic chance for this race. We are not underestimating our rivals, because we know that the level of competition is very close at the front. But I believe we have the package to win in Imola."

Denis Chevrier, Renault's head of trackside engine operations, believes the new B-spec engine could give Fisichella a few tenths of a second advantage in qualifying - as well as more pace in the race.

"It is a normal evolutionary step early in the development cycle: we have looked to gain performance by increasing the peak revs, and improving areas like cylinder filling and combustion," he said.

"In qualifying trim, we expect a gain of several tenths of a second and the final dyno tests before the Grand Prix will allow us to determine exactly how much additional performance is available during the race."

Renault had originally planned to introduce the engine at the European Grand Prix next month, but decided to bring forward its introduction because Fisichella could make use of it this weekend.

"His retirement in Bahrain put him 'out of cycle' relative to our development schedule, and we had to take a decision on whether to accelerate the introduction of the B spec, which had been planned for race five," explained Chevrier. "We decided it was important to do so, and have pushed our processes to make it happen.

"However, this early debut may lead us to use to conserve some of the engine's potential performance during the race in order to not compromise reliability. Fernando will receive the B spec engine at the Nurburgring, as per our original schedule."