Renault Planning Big Step up for Imola

Renault are ready to step up the fight with Ferrari now that Formula One is back in Europe after three long-haul races.

"We plan to introduce a sizeable performance step in Imola, primarily on the engine side but also with some chassis modifications," said technical director Bob Bell in a statement on Tuesday.

The French manufacturer leapfrogged Williams into second place in the Constructors' Championship in Bahrain on Sunday after bringing both their cars home in the points for the third race in a row.

Only dominant champions Ferrari, 29 points clear at the top, and Renault have scored points with both cars at every race so far this season. Bell said morale was high but there were no illusions. The next race, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, is in Ferrari's backyard on April 25.

"There is a very genuine gap in performance to Ferrari and the fight with Williams and BAR is extremely close from race to race," he said.

"We know there is an extremely high level of performance in the car," added the technical director.

"Basically, we need to make the car easier to drive in order that Jarno (Trulli) and Fernando (Alonso) can extract maximum performance from it all the time and we have a number of programmes in place to achieve that."

Alonso and Trulli are level on 11 points in the Championship. Bell praised both for their performance at Bahrain's unfamiliar new track, with Trulli fourth and Alonso sixth.

"Jarno came away disappointed because he felt he could have got third place, but he drove an excellent race," he said.

"As for Fernando, last weekend once again proved what we have known for some time: whatever the circumstances, he will never give up. The fact that he set second fastest race lap indicates how much performance is waiting to be unlocked in the car."