Renault vow to keep on pushing

Renault's executive director of engineering Pat Symonds says the French squad are not resting on their laurels following their almost perfect start to the season

Renault have won both the season-opening race in Bahrain and last Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, where they scored their first one-two finish in over 24 years after Giancarlo Fisichella finished ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso.

The team lead Ferrari in the constructors' standings, having scored 28 points to the Italian squad's 15.

But despite their strong start to the season, Symonds says Renault are planning some significant updates for their car for next month's Australian Grand Prix in order to stay ahead of their rivals.

"Our race in Malaysia hit all our predictions very precisely," said Symonds. "But there were some factors that made it easier as well. The first was the fact that Fernando eradicated much of his qualifying disadvantage in the opening corner, as he went from seventh to third.

"And secondly, Raikkonen's first-lap retirement removed one of the major threats to our success. Nobody in the team is resting on their laurels, and we know we have a fight on our hands.

"There were half a dozen new components on the car for this race, and there will be more aero developments for Melbourne in two weeks' time. We are pushing flat out to continue improving our level of performance."