NEXT RACE - 11th May

Briatore: Too early to judge Renault

Wednesday 26th March 2008

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore believes it unfair to judge the team after just two races.

Double World Champion Fernando Alonso started the season brightly by finishing fourth in Melbourne, but he was way off the pace in Malaysia and picked up just one point.

Briatore is confident they will improve before the start of the European season.

He told the official F1 website: "It does not make sense to judge a car after one or two races.

"Of course, McLaren and Ferrari have a fast car, but look what happened to Ferrari in Australia. So we will have to wait and see how it will be at the next couple of races."

Briatore hopes the R28 will show its true form at the Turkish Grand Prix in May.

"At the moment we are in a very promising development run, because it would be completely unrealistic to think we can find those missing seconds to McLaren and Ferrari within days.

"I still cannot judge where we stand at the moment. You can do well in the morning, then you get a problem with the gearbox and a good result vanishes. As I just said, wait three or four races and then ask me again, as I will have a pretty good idea of what our status is."

Briatore also refused to comment on rumours linking Alonso to Ferrari.

"Fernando is a great sportsman who will always give his best - and rumours I never comment on. It is a waste of time to get involved in hypothetical daydreams."

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