Renault stay realistic despite podium

Nelsinho Piquet benefited from a safety car period to finish in second position, his and his team's first podium of the 2008 season.

The result moved Renault right into the fight for fourth position, the French team now just two points behind fourth-placed Toyota.

Symonds, however, concedes the German Grand Prix result was lucky and is aware that the fight for fourth will be intense in the remaining races.

"Obviously the result was welcome, as were the points," said Symonds. "So far this season we seem to have been talking about unfulfilled promise with the car, and, although luck played a part in this result, we certainly feel that it makes up for some of the times in the last few races where the luck hasn't gone our way.

"It's great for Nelson as he's had a tough time in the first half of the year, and I certainly hope that this is a turning point for him. But, we have to be realistic, there's still a tough fight ahead of us, and Toyota and Red Bull Racing are still very competitive so we need to continue working hard.

"But at least we have grabbed a bag full of points, and the performance of the car should allow us to fight for fourth position in the championship."

Nonetheless, Symonds admitted that the result have boosted the team's morale for the second half of the year.

"I think it has given everybody a boost because no matter how strong you are as a team, it's always nice to have the reinforcement of a good result," he added.

"But I think the team is also being quite analytical because we accept that the car needed luck to get a second place, and we know that realistically our challenge is to fight BMW, and that's what we must aim to do.

"But, at the same time, we do feel that the points that we grabbed in Germany make up for some of the disappointments earlier in the season."

And the Briton reckons Piquet could now be a stronger driver following his performance at Hockenheim.

"Very often when a driver has had a difficult start to their career, they get a good result and after that nothing seems to stop them. I've seen it happen so many times before and hopefully it will be the same for Nelson because we know he has the ability and we know how quick he is.

"It's fair to say that he has found the pressure quite difficult this year, but the result in Hockenheim is the perfect response from him.