Renault 'Shocked' by Ferrari's Form

Renault were shocked by the pace of the new Ferrari in Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix ­- but immediately warned the Italian giants they will be caught this season.

World Champion Michael Schumacher finished more than half a minute ahead of Renault's third-placed driver Fernando Alonso as the Maranello-based squad dominated the weekend from start to finish.

"Over the winter you don't get clear impression and it was a bit of a shock to see dominance like that from Ferrari," said Renault's executive director of engineering Pat Symonds.

"There is a lot to do if we want to catch the red cars but in the past they have had a great race here then Malaysia didn't go their way so I am optimistic and I am sure we will get them before the end of the season."

Ferrari have won all but one Australian Grand Prix since 1999 and Schumacher's victory was his fourth at the Melbourne track after a hat-trick of wins between 2000 and 2002. Last year the struggled at Albert Park when, after qualifying first and second, they collected just five points from Michael Schumacher's fourth place finish as Rubens Barrichello posted a rare retirement.

This season's performance sent their rivals' minds racing but Symonds is keeping calm and is confident that, after seeing the performance of Williams and McLaren, his team can be the ones to challenge Ferrari this year.

"Our performance compared to the rest of field has been good," said Symonds. "I think as a team we have shown in the past that we can make considerable progress during a season. Now we will re-double our efforts to catch Ferrari."