Renault confident about upgrades

The Enstone-based outfit had a very strong start to the season, scoring top-three finishes in Australia and Malaysia, but since then Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov have been left battling for lower points positions.

However, with the team working hard on an aggressive development programme, Allison says the focus is firmly on delivering the speed the team will need to be back near the front.

"We need to be quicker," said Allison. "The biggest lever teams have to play with is aerodynamic performance, and we need to improve that quicker than our competitors.

"But I am very confident. There is a lot going on."

Allison said he was satisfied with the progress the team had made this year, but he was not wasting time dwelling on what had already happened.

"It has been pretty reasonable," he said. "We have scored more points this year at this stage than we had last year. We have had the car in the top 10 in qualifying all the time plus we have had both cars in the points for several of the races.

"With two podiums as well, it has been a good start. But I am not thinking about that now, I am thinking about all of the other races we have got to go, and how to close in on the cars ahead of us - and then stay ahead."