Red Bull still hopeful of beating Williams

Red Bull are four points behind Williams, fourth in the standings, with just the Brazilian Grand Prix remaining, after having lost the opportunity to pass the Toyota-powered team in the last two races.

Australian Mark Webber was knocked off the Japanese Grand Prix while battling for the lead, while David Coulthard managed just one point in China despite having started from fifth place.

Fabrice Lom, the engineer in charge of the Renault V8 engines used by Red Bull, believes the Milton Keynes-based squad should be ahead of Williams.

Lom also admits he has mixed feelings about the last races, where Red Bull showed good potential but failed to turn that into strong results.

"I've got mixed feelings," said Lom. "On the one hand the car has really made a step forward in terms of performance in the past few weeks. We saw that step in our last test session at Jerez, and it was confirmed each time we ran in dry conditions at the races.

"Unfortunately, we have only collected a pretty meagre points haul even though good results were achievable each time. We're still behind Williams in the championship when really we should be in front of them by now."

Lom, however, is adamant Red Bull will not give up until the season is over.

"We haven't given up in our battle with Williams," he added. "We have to score four points more than them in Brazil and that's not an impossible task."

Despite a strong end to the season, the Frenchman admitted Red Bull are cautious about their prospects for 2008.

"We're still cautious about next year. First of all, there will be a large number of innovations: no more traction control, standard ECUs etc, so carrying over performance from one season to the next won't be automatic.

"Furthermore, teams like Renault and BMW are now investing all their efforts in 2008 while Red Bull Racing is still developing its 2007 car.

"These different strategies distort the current hierarchy a little. However, the team seems to have a clear developments strategy and the car's improving with every race, so we're confident."