Symonds says Renault gained three tenths

Renault have endured a difficult start to the season, but a big upgrade introduced in Barcelona seemed to get them closer to Ferrari, McLaren and BMW.

Fernando Alonso qualified on the front row for the first time this year and was fighting near the front before an engine failure put him out of the race.

Symonds reckons his team took a significant step forward, although the Briton admits the gap to Ferrari is still big.

"I can say that at Barcelona under these conditions, we probably moved three tenths closer," Symonds said. "Will it be the same in Monaco and Turkey? I'm not too sure, but evidence at moment is for that kind of amount."

He added: "The direction is good, lots of things worked. We have to keep working at it. The gap's still pretty big, very big to Ferrari, so there is a lot to be done but we are pleased with the direction."

Symonds revealed there were a total of 19 areas where changes were introduced in Spain, and although he admits further updates will not be so significant, he says the team will not stop working on new things.

"There were 19 separate areas of development on the car this weekend, we got them all on and working, so we have to keep doing more of that," he said.

"It doesn't stop, far from it. There will not be 19 different areas per race, that's for sure, but as with all teams, we don't usually store things up and release a big package of things."