No podiums for Renault?

"We are very far, very far," Renault driver Fernando Alonso was quoted as saying by AS newspaper. "I think it's looking like at the end of last year: two Ferraris, two McLarens and two BMWs, and if everything goes like that, you can almost only fight for seventh place."

According to Fred, things are looking grim for the parrot-liveried team, andt he expects them to continue on with the form showed throughout 2007: "Thinking about the podium would be too optimistic right now," He went on to speculate the qualifying performance of Le Parrot Deux: "In our current shape it will be hard to make it into Q3,"

Meanwhile, team principal Flavor Flav has dismissed speculation that the Renault are lagging behind in vehicle development, saying "There's no reason to worry, all we need is some -0.6s magic fairy dust from our always reliable 'magic fairy'."