Renault Confident About Tyres

Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella endured the French car manufacturer's worst race of the season so far in Monte Carlo, as extreme rear tyre wear left them unable to do anything to stop Kimi Raikkonen roaring to his second consecutive victory.

And with Renault's problems coming on the back of Alonso suffering less severe tyre troubles at the Spanish Grand Prix, there are suggestions that the team may need to make major revisions to their car if they are going to halt McLaren's resurgence.

But Renault's executive director of engineering Pat Symonds is confident that the Monaco dramas were just a one-off and that the team have no reason to feel concerned heading to this weekend's European Grand Prix.

"The Nurburgring is poles apart from Monaco in the characteristics it demands of the car," explained Symonds. "I see no reason at all why we should not be extremely competitive there, as we have been at every other circuit this season.

"We learned a lesson in Monaco, and we will be looking at how we can begin applying solutions to the problems from the next race onwards."

Michelin boss Pierre Dupasquier believes that the tyre problems were caused by Renault not managing the use of the tyres as well as they could, rather than a fundamental design fault with the rubber.