Renault unfazed by Schumacher's point

Although the Ferrari driver failed to finish the race after crashing with BMW's Nick Heidfeld, the disqualification of Robert Kubica from seventh place meant Schumacher was elevated to eighth position, thus scoring an unexpected point.

With Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso having retired from the race earlier, the point allowed Schumacher to cut the Spaniard's lead to 10 points with just five races remaining.

"It doesn't change anything at all for us," said Symonds. "The end result in terms of the points difference is minimal. The pleasure of yesterday's race for the team was that we were able to dominate in all conditions, and that the Renault was the best car out there.

"Equally, we feel very, very confident that in a dry race, the car would have been extremely competitive, and I am convinced we would have beaten Ferrari. In spite of scoring zero points, that's a very encouraging situation for the next races."

Symonds said the team will make sure they avoid a repeat of the problem that forced Alonso into his first retirement since last year's Canadian Grand Prix.

"There is a safety mechanism holding the wheel-nut on, and it did not disengage at the second pitstop," Symonds said. ""That meant the wheel nut was damaged as it was removed, and did not re-attach correctly as the new wheel went on.

"The reassuring fact is that this is a simple problem to fix, and doesn't put the exceptional reliability of the R26 in any doubt. We will have a modified solution in place for Turkey."

Renault will keep on pushing the development of the R26 despite the summer break, with Symonds revealing they will introduce aerodynamic improvements in the next race in Turkey.

"We have got another strong package of aero updates coming for Turkey," added Symonds. "There was a big update in Hockenheim, which started to show its worth this weekend, and much more is coming. It's a real tribute to the people back at Enstone and Viry, that the rate of development has been so competitive this year.

"We said before Germany that the balance of power often swings back and forth in August, and we saw a perfect example of it last weekend in Hungary. We want to make sure we keep the advantage in Istanbul, and every member of the Renault team is pushing very hard to make it happen."