Renault Must do Better, Says Briatore
Renault must aim to be multiple race winners and Championship challengers this season, team manager Flavio Briatore has warned.
Renault must aim to be multiple race winners and Championship challengers this season, team manager Flavio Briatore has warned.
"We have to do better," said Briatore. "There are no politics, no problems...we are all here to win and we've got the drivers to do it this year."
"This year we are facing another hard step," added the Formula One team's chairman Patrick Faure as the team unveiled their new R25 car in Monaco, the Mediterranean principality where they took their sole victory of 2004 with Italian Jarno Trulli.
"We always said 2005 and 2006 were the years when we wanted to be fighting for the world title. We have to win races, plural, and not just one," added Faure. "In the last four or five races we should be among the two or three teams fighting for the Championship.
Trulli has moved to Toyota since his Monaco success and Renault look to young Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, both race winners, to bring them closer to champions Ferrari.
The R25 has looked quick in initial testing, possibly the fastest of all the new generation seen so far although Ferrari will contest the first four races with a revised version of their old car.
Alonso said he was confident the team could raise their game after they finished last year third overall behind Honda-powered BAR.
"The first test is always very difficult for a new car but we had no problems," he said. "I had a good confidence from the first laps. I'm really convinced that this car can be fantastic this season and will be a surprise for some people."
The Spaniard added: "Always when you start a new season you want to improve on your results from the previous year. It will not be easy, I have to finish in the top three and the team in the top two in the constructors'. But I think we can do it."
Fisichella, who raced for Renault in the past and returns from Sauber, has also one victory under his belt - a lucky win with Jordan in the rain-hit Brazilian Grand Prix of 2003. He had to wait a week to find out he had won, however, after a timing error.
"I hope this year he can find out that he's the winner on the same Sunday as the race," said Briatore.
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