Renault Boss Says Results Beyond Expectations

Renault's sports director Patrick Faure said the results of his team in Formula One's opening two Grands Prix were beyond expectations.

"If, at the beginning of the year, we had been told our four cars would finish the races and all score points, we would not have believed it," Faure said in an interview with sports daily L'Equipe today.

Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, 21, started on pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang on Sunday and clinched third place behind McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello with teammate Jarno Trulli finishing fifth.

At the season-opener in Australia, Alonso was seventh with Trulli again finishing in fifth.

Faure added that if World Champion Michael Schumacher had not crashed into Trulli's car in Sepang, the Italian driver might have finished even higher. Faure said the goal was still to clinch between three and six podiums during the season.

"It will be hard to win races. We must not forget that we have not seen either the new McLaren or the new Ferrari yet," he concluded.