Heidfeld hopeful Renault can return to the sharp end of the grid

Although Renault started the season strongly, its performance has dropped in recent races, and the team has decided to evaluate a more conventional exhaust system after having used the forward-facing one so far.

The team will run the new system in one car during Friday practice for the German Grand Prix to evaluate its performance.

Heidfeld is adamant it is time for Renault to return to the sharp end of the field thanks to the upgrades scheduled to be introduced.

"I know, as [technical director] James Allison has confirmed, that there are some bigger developments coming than we had at the last couple of races," said Heidfeld.

"There has been a tremendous amount of work going on in the wind tunnel so I am very hopeful that we will take a significant step forward.

"We have had to demonstrate our patience during what were a couple of challenging races recently, but now is the time for us to take that step forward and compete with the top teams again, which is where we belong."

The German believes Renault has the potential to finish higher than fourth in the championship, having been overtaken by Mercedes.

"I hope that the car is strong, so that we can go back to qualifying in the top 10, which is exactly where we should be, and then get even stronger in the Constructors' Championship; we will need to take the fight to Mercedes who just overtook us but we know we are more than capable of a fourth placed finish this season."

Although Heidfeld enjoyed a solid British Grand Prix, finishing in eighth place despite starting from the back, he admitted he is is aiming for much more.

"Four points is not what we're aiming for - we need more, deserve more and we must be proactive in making that happen. I really believe that we will be able to score a greater number of points over the next few races as we have some more interesting developments to bolt onto the car."