Renault making progress on R27 problems

The reigning world champions have yet to finish on the podium this season, and the team have been working flat out to fully understand why their have lost ground to rivals Ferrari and McLaren.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, Symonds has said that work in testing at Barcelona last week was encouraging but that there was still plenty of effort needed.

"As we have always said, this initial phase is very much a process of elimination," he said. "Our approach has been to look at every possible cause, then discard them as our work advances in order to pin-point the areas for more detailed investigation.

"It is painstaking work, but we have made good steps forward since we raced in Bahrain.

"In previous weeks, we have said that the road back to our normal level of competitiveness will be a long one, and that is still true.

"We have made good progress in our analysis and understanding of the R27, but we are not expecting a leap forward in our competitiveness relative to our rivals this weekend. It will be a tough race weekend where we have to fight for every point."

Symonds insists that the team are wasting no time in reminiscing about how strong they were last season, and says that everyone at the French squad is fully focused on sorting out the current issues.

"Motor racing is all about looking forward, not being nostalgic about the past. We are certainly in a tougher situation than in the last two years, and the reward for our hard work is less tangible.

"It takes character to find real reward in achieving the maximum with the equipment available to you, and to work methodically to resolve problems. Real character is something that this Renault team has in abundance, and it's what makes me optimistic that it will be a case of when, not if, we bounce back."

And Symonds has especially praised Giancarlo Fisichella, whom he claims is again the kind of determined individual that he was in 2001 - when the Italian and Renault endured a tough season with an uncompetitive car.

"Giancarlo has been very impressive so far this season," Symonds said. "A lot of our esteem for him is rooted in the way he handled our 2001 season, when he put huge effort into making the most of a difficult car. We are seeing something similar this year.

"The R27 is a hard car to drive consistently, but in spite of this, he has driven very consistent races.

"He has taken the car to the limit of what it is currently capable of, and contributed in every way he can to helping resolve our current problems. We couldn't ask any more of him."