Renault vow to push to catch BMW

"This is where we are at the moment," said Briatore after his drivers finished in seventh and eighth, while BMW's Robert Kubica was fourth and teammate Nick Heidfeld sixth.

"The championship shows we are in fourth position and today, on a circuit that really tests the cars, we were fourth quickest team.

"Now we have to get back to work in the factory, and on the test track, to make another step forward," added Briatore. 

"The team has shown the ability to overcome its problems, and stay motivated during that difficult time. The second half of the season will be the time for us to accelerate our development, to try and catch up our rivals."

Heikki Kovalainen finished ahead of teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, but both men were lapped by race winner Kimi Raikkonen.

"To finish P7 is not where the team wants to be, but there is no magic recipe for going forward from here," said Kovalainen, whose team are now 25 points behind BMW.

"We need to sit down, analyse what went wrong, eliminate the problems - and carry on improving the car. It's what we have done very well so far, and I know the team will carry on pushing, beginning with this week's test in Spa."

Fisichella added: "It's another point for me, but we have lost ground to BMW the last two weekends. Everybody is working very hard to turn that situation around, hopefully starting with the next race in Germany."