Piquet not making any predictions

The French squad, world champions in 2005 and 2006, endured a troubled season last year, finishing in third place in the standings after just one podium finish.

Their new R28 car and the return of Fernando Alonso has lifted Renault's hopes for 2008, although the Spaniard said earlier this year the team are far behind Ferrari and McLaren.

Piquet admits it's hard to tell where Renault stand right now.

"It's very difficult to predict. Everybody keeps asking that. Some days we are quicker than BMW, and some days Williams are quicker. So it's difficult to predict," Piquet told reporters during testing at Jerez.

"Last year we were always trying to see where we were and we thought we were close to McLaren and Ferrari and we were very far.

"So something we learned from last year is that we shouldn't worry too much, because even if we are close or not, we will still be pushing 100 percent to make the car quicker.

"So, to be honest, some days we think we are very good, some days it doesn't look we are too strong. It depends on what everybody's doing.

"Our plan is to improve. How much we are behind we are only going to find in Australia."