Flav: We weren't quick enough

Renault is currently locked in a fight with BAR for the runner-up honours in the championship. BAR holds the advantage at the moment, having leap-frogged the Anglo-French team at the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Jenson Button's third place today ensured BAR further stretched its lead over Renault to nine points with two races left to contest. But Briatore is adamant the team will step up its fight and fully expects the battle to go down to the last race in Brazil.

"Our race was easy to analyse: we weren't quick enough today," he said. "We are disappointed but we still got two cars to the finish and one at the foot of the podium. The team worked well during a difficult weekend and the drivers did a great job: Fernando pushed until the very end of the race, and Jacques succeeded with a difficult challenge. We have said that the championship fight with BAR will go down to the wire and that will certainly be the case. Our aim, more than ever, is to reclaim second in the championship."

Alonso, who finished fourth today, is confident the team will kept the upperhand over rivals BAR in the final two races, circuits he believes should suit the R24.

"The next two circuits should favour us more than the last ones have and I am feeling good," the Spaniard said. "My motivation his high and I am focused on scoring the points we need to get back second place in the championship."

Team-mate Jacques Villeneuve, thrown in at the deep end following his swift replacement of Jarno Trulli at the team, brought his car home in 11th spot after a difficult race. But the French-Canadian admitted he had learnt a lot from the race and is fully pumped for the next round in Japan.

"I learned a lot during the race this afternoon: I know the R24 better, I have got a full race distance under my belt and I have also understood what a 2004-style race is like," he said. "To be honest, I just needed too long to get into the rhythm at the start of the race. I made a good start but I hadn't warmed the tyres enough and lost a lot of the positions I had made up. Even so, I feel ready for Suzuka now."