Symonds looking for Monaco form

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Symonds looking for Monaco form

Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) Renault RS27, European F1 Grand Prix, Nurburgring, 20th-22nd, July, 2007

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Pat Symonds is hoping Renault's strong performance earlier in the season at Monaco will provide an accurate indicator of their form heading into the eleventh round of the Formula One World Championship in Hungary.

Monaco is the only circuit on the calendar that shares the Hungaroring's high downforce characteristics, and after Giancarlo Fisichella comfortably outpaced both BMW Saubers on his way to a fourth-place finish in the Principality, the team are hoping for a similar result this weekend.

"We go there feeling optimistic," the team's executive director of engineering said. "The car was quick in high-downforce trim in Monaco and, since then, we have added performance to it.

"We experienced problems getting the tyres working properly in the cooler conditions at the Nurburgring, but this is unlikely to be a problem in the high temperatures we usually encounter in Hungary."

Hungary marks something of a crucial weekend for Renault, after their lacklustre European Grand Prix showing at the Nurburgring yielded just a single point.

But Symonds moved to play down their apparent lack of pace last time out, with the team struggling in practice and qualifying before Heikki Kovalainen and Fisichella eventually crossed the line in eighth and tenth places respectively.

"While the timesheets placed us 11th and 12th in terms of fastest laps in Germany, I think our pace was actually much better than that suggested: the fact that our strategy was somewhat out of synch with our competitors may have masked some of our pace," he continued.

"Everybody is very focused for the weekend ahead, and determined to demonstrate that although frustrating, the last race was nothing more than an extremely annoying blip in performance."