Symonds Still Baffled By Team's Slump

Renault's Pat Symonds says the team is still struggling to understand how it has fallen off the pace so dramatically in 2007.

The constructors' champion's engineering director told Autosport magazine that there was no obvious reason why the team that took a clean sweep of titles in 2005/6 should now be struggling to break into the points.

"Having been sucessful in 2005 and 2006 really makes me wonder where we went wrong," said Symonds.

"The tools and the methodology that we applied to winning the last two world championships haven't changed at all.

"Fernando (Alonso) may have left the team, but it's the same group of engineers responsible for designing, developing and exploiting the car."

Symonds dismissed the possibility that Alonso had been flattering the team in recent seasons.

"You don't punch above your weight for two years," he told Autosport.

"You can do it for a race or two, but I'm not sure you can do it for much more than that.

"It was a sign of the team's class that we won back-to-back titles."

Last year Renault began the season with three straight victories, but at the same point in 2007 it is only fourth in the constructors' table, having scored nine points.

Source: www.itv-f1.com

"The tools and the methodology that we applied to winning the last two world championships haven't changed at all.

Redders1989

Well maybe that's the problem? Everyone else has changed for the better while Renault think that we're still in 2005? Renault did something spectacular in 2005, so great in fact that it got them 2 world championships. But in those two years, everyone else has been catching up.. the signs were showing at the end of last year when Renault came under so much pressure from Ferrari. I'm not surprised.