Sports / Motor Racing |
Fisichella doubts he will be on F1 podium in 2007(Reuters)Updated: 2007-05-10 09:29 Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella doubts he will stand on the Formula One podium this year despite starting the season with high hopes at a team that won both championships in 2006 and 2005. "This Renault was born bad," Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper quoted the 34-year-old Italian as saying on Wednesday. "Of course you can never rule anything out in F1, even winning with this car. But I don't think I'll be back on the podium in 2007." Fisichella took over from double world champion Fernando Alonso, who switched to McLaren at the end of last year, as Renault's effective team leader with a real hope of challenging for the title. He won in Malaysia last year and also had four third places, one of them in Spain -- the next race on the calendar this weekend. This season he has scored just eight points from three races, with Renault fourth overall, and in Bahrain last month recognised that any title hopes had evaporated. Only McLaren and Ferrari drivers have been on the podium so far this year. "I don't see any chance of winning a race," Fisichella told Gazzetta. "The aerodynamics are wrong. It's better to start straight away on the 2008 car than wasting time fixing a car born bad." The Italian said the 2007 car had looked good in the wind tunnel before the season started but the reality on the circuit was different. "Nobody expected a start to the season like this," he said. "We even thought about bringing back the championship-winning 2006 car but with these tyres we wouldn't have achieved anything." Renault won their titles with Michelin, the French tyre manufacturer that withdrew from Formula One at the end of last year and left Japan's Bridgestone as sole supplier. "Renault have got something wrong, our fault," said Fisichella. "The first part of the season is compromised. Without traction the car is inconsistent over a lap ... up to three weeks ago we did not know what to do. "Now at least we have ideas. It's the wings that are not working," he added.
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