Symonds: 2007 still hindering Renault

On the back of a difficult 2007 campaign, the French team have not yet rediscovered the form that took them to world titles with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.

And Symonds believes the cause of their current plight, which has left them as the fifth or sixth fastest team, can be traced back to the wind tunnel correlation problems that derailed their efforts last year.

"Ultimately there is one area that is most dominant in terms of performance and that is the car's aero package," said Symonds.

"But the situation is very different to last year, and I think that is a point we need to emphasise because last year our aero performance was not what we believed it to be and that was because we had a very specific problem in correlation between the wind tunnel and the car.

"This year our correlation is perfectly reasonable, it's just that our aero performance is not where we want it to be, and I believe that is because we are still suffering the penalty of the development time we lost while getting the correlation back.

"We've tried desperately to catch up by starting work on the 2008 car earlier, but clearly we haven't done all the catching up that we need to do. What we can do now is redouble our efforts in that area and concentrate on improving the aero performance."

Symonds thinks the team can target points again in Bahrain this weekend, although he is well aware how close the fight in the midfield is.

"I see us being part of this very tight bunch of teams with everything to play for, and the ability to be at the front or the back of that bunch with very there being very little in it.

"We managed to be in that bunch in Malaysia and I expect the same in Bahrain, which means that points will be the target and I'd love to see both drivers through to Q3. But I know that is not going to be easy because that is the nature of the competitiveness at the moment."

Symonds' feelings about the team have been backed by Alonso, who says he is ready to work as hard as everyone to improve the situation.

"We know that our level of performance at the moment is not at the level of the leading teams, but we are working hard to move forward and close the gap," said the Spaniard.

"To finish in the points must be our goal at the moment and we must approach the season step-by-step and keep improving."

He added: "We don't know yet exactly where we stand, although we know that we are behind Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. Reaching Q3 is not easy and so scoring points in the race is also difficult.

"But we have scored points in the first couple of races and I think that is what we must aim for again this weekend in Bahrain. We must try and take advantage of the slightest opportunity that comes our way and each race must be seen as a way for us to progress."