Renault downplay practice showing

Giancarlo Fisichella and teammate Heikki Kovalainen finished second and third fastest respectively in the afternoon session, only behind world champion Fernando Alonso.

But the Renault drivers' laps were set with a low fuel load, and Symonds says their times are not representative of their real pace.

"It is obvious that our final laps were done with a lower fuel load as part of our planned technical checks, and that our positions are therefore unrepresentatively high in the timesheets," said Symonds.

"However, our pace on the long runs seems to show that the status quo has not changed much since Bahrain."

Italian Fisichella felt, however, that Renault were closer to the top teams.

"My feeling is that we are possibly a little bit closer to the cars in front of us, even if we are clearly not fast enough to be second in the times on speed alone," he said. "As always, we have to remember this is only Friday, so we need to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

"The fight between the midfield teams is extremely close, and we will need to push to the limit tomorrow to get a good grid position."