Renault duo play down practice showing

The French squad, world champions for the past two seasons, has endured a poor start to the 2007 season, struggling for pace following their switch from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres.

The team are in fourth place in the standings with just eight points after two races.

On Friday things didn't look much better for Renault, with Kovalainen finishing down in 12th place and teammate Giancarlo Fisichella in 15th position.

"The final positions look worse than they did last week, but I think that the feeling about our competitiveness is much better," the Finn said. "The car is better to drive than last week, and the changes we made definitely took us in the right direction during the two practice sessions.

"I am feeling more comfortable as well, so all in all I am quite happy. Tomorrow will be tough, but that is the situation we are in at the moment, and we will be fighting hard to get into the final round of qualifying."

Fisichella also believes the car could prove more competitive despite today's times.

"My long run in the second session was very consistent and the feeling with the car was good," said Fisichella. "And then, on my quick lap at the end, I ran wide, so I know there is more performance to come over a single lap.

"The car felt more consistent to drive, but it felt good on Friday last week as well - then we struggled in qualifying.

"So our challenge will be to produce a good level of performance tomorrow. It will still be a very close fight to get into the top ten, but I think we had a good day today, and hopefully that can help us to a better result tomorrow."