Symonds sure Renault will fight for win

With almost everyone in the pitlane admitting that the new knockout format is going to be something of a lottery, Symonds has said he is bullish about his team coming through the hour with a decent result.

Speaking about how his team's strategy for the Saturday afternoon session, Symonds said: "To be honest, there is not much room for manoeuvre in terms of our approach. It is not like in the pre-2003 qualifying format, where you had an hour to make the runs.

"We only have 15 minutes to do our runs, which limits when you can go out on track with new tyres, and there are always going to be circumstances out of your control. The teams will try to get the cars on track at the right time, but it will then be up to the drivers to find the space for a clean lap. It is not going to be an easy task."

With Alonso having looked comfortable on his way to fourth fastest in Thursday practice, Symonds has said he sees no particular reason to worry about the situation.   

"We know there will be a strong challenge from McLaren, and possibly Ferrari. But we are confident that we can secure good grid positions tomorrow - and have a very strong race on Sunday."

Symonds believes that Ferrari cannot yet be ruled out of the battle for victory, despite being unimpressive on Thursday when their Bridgestone tyres did not appear as well suited to the 'green' circuit as Michelin.

"One of the unique factors about Monaco, is how much the circuit changes over the weekend," he explained. "The first day of practice seemed to indicate Michelin had the more suitable tyres, and that McLaren would, on the face of it, be our main challengers.

"But this is Monaco... there are no guarantees that it will stay the same on Saturday!"