Q & A with Renault's Fabrice Lom

Q. Fabrice, Red Bull Racing finished the European Grand Prix on the podium and both the team's cars scored points. Are you happy?

Fabrice Lom, Principal Engineer, Red Bull Racing Trackside Engine Support: Absolutely! At Magny-Cours and Silverstone we didn't have very good races but we felt that the potential was there. Last weekend's Grand Prix showed one thing: when we manage to qualify well we can match the pace of the front-runners. When the car is reliable, the results follow.

Mark Webber was sixth at the start of the race. He made no mistakes in the tricky conditions and his pace in the dry was very competitive. David started from further back but he drove brilliantly in the wet conditions, and got up to the front where he stayed until the end of the race.

Q. Were you worried about reliability up to the last lap?

FL: Of course. We didn't feel all that optimistic after our recent problems. But the car lasted and that too is very positive.

Q. You've already tasted the joys of the podium with Renault. How was this one different?

FL: Renault and Red Bull Racing started from zero and we've built everything up bit by bit. Last December, the Red Bull-Renault didn't exist! We had to harmonise the electronic systems, get the V8 running in the chassis and do a lot of work to get everything working properly. We've succeeded; we're making progress and we're proud of that.

Q. This result must be a huge boost to the morale of the whole team...

FL: Yes, it is. Everybody's been working very hard and last Sunday they reaped their first reward: a podium and also both cars at the finish in the first eight. We scored 10 points, as much as McLaren and more than Ferrari and BMW. It's very important for us as usually when the quickest cars don't run into problems, we're just picking up crumbs.

It's the same thing for our direct rivals. To pull back 10 points on Toyota and 5 on Williams in a single race is a great result in the context of the "customer engine world championship!" A fifth place finish in our first year together in the championship would be really great.

Q. What are your objectives for Budapest?

FL: It's a very specific circuit that really tests reliability. It's hot and the race requires a lot of gear changes. We're treating this event with a lot of respect. We'll prepare for it at Jerez this week where we'll work on both performance and reliability.