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Renault bringing Malaysia upgrades

Vitaly Petrov secured his best ever grand prix result with third place in Melbourne © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Malaysian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Eric Boullier
• |
• Nick Heidfeld

• Teams:
• Renault

Renault has said it is looking to build on its encouraging third place in the Australian Grand Prix by adding upgrades worth "several tenths of a second" to the car in Malaysia.

Vitaly Petrov secured his maiden podium in Melbourne as Renault's R31 showed impressive pace to finish ahead of both Ferrari's and Mark Webber's Red Bull. Technical director James Allison said that while it was a pleasing result, the team has to look to develop the car further if it wants to stay in touch with the leading pack.

"It was a fine effort by Vitaly and an encouraging start for the R31," Allison said. "However, we will need to add a lot more performance to the car over the coming races if we want to keep up our early momentum. I can say that we will bring a moderate upgrade package to Malaysia worth several tenths of a second. We will be making changes to the front and rear wing in addition to several items of bodywork."

Team principal Eric Boullier agreed with Allison's comments, but warned that the high rate of development meant no team could be comfortable with where it stood in relation to other teams. Boullier said that the order would change at each race, and that the pace shown by Renault in Melbourne would not mean that it was automatically fighting at the front again in Sepang.

"It reflected the order in Australia, to be honest," Boullier said. "Today's development rate is important and the capacity for the technical team to deliver a new package to the car is crucial in the fight for the championship. I think in Malaysia the order will be different, and for the race after that there will be another new order, so it's not representative for the whole season."

Nick Heidfeld had a less successful weekend, sustaining heavy damage to his sidepod on the first lap in Melbourne and running at a reduced pace for the rest of the grand prix. Looking forward to Malaysia though, Heidfeld said he felt the Drag Reduction System should lead to a more entertaining race.

"I think it should have a bigger impact there," Heidfeld said. "Overtaking has always been easier in Malaysia because of the circuit design. You have long straights followed by slow apex corners and we should see more action."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.