Renault braces itself for the unexpected over diffuser ban consequences

Teams are unsure about the differences the rules clarification will make to the competitive order at the British Grand Prix, but they are in no doubt it will affect all teams to some extent.

Although Renault has been confident over the last few weeks that it should not suffer as much as other teams, because of its unique forward-facing exhaust design, team principal Eric Boullier says his outfit should not be complacent.

"It's a complicated issue and difficult to state their exact impact just yet," explained Boullier. "What's certain is that we need to anticipate the changes to the regulations in the best way we can. It will definitely affect every single team, and it's up to us and our engineers to cope better than our competitors with the changes."

Renault has struggled for pace on the recent slow-speed circuits, but Boullier is upbeat that the faster venues coming up - like Silverstone this weekend - should suit it better.

"Considering the races in Monaco and Valencia and our performance there, we can definitely expect the high speed corners to suit our car much better."

Reflecting on the season so far, Boullier said: "My feelings are quite mixed; we had a very strong start to the season with a couple of podiums, but obviously we have now had a few races where we haven't performed as well as we need to.

"We know we have to react well; we think we have a clear understanding of what may have gone wrong and we've started to correct it. If our car was so good at the beginning of the season, we must be able to get that level of performance back for the remaining 11 races.

"Now is a good time to really, really push and comprehend why we haven't been able to keep our pace relative to the other teams on the grid."