Renault delighted with returning Alonso

Fernando Alonso has been hailed as a calming, motivational force following an indifferent start to the season from Renault.

Regardless of the speculation already linking Alonso with a race seat at Ferrari next season, the 26-year-old is currently having to mend and make do on his return to Renault.

The team that enabled Alonso to win back-to-back world titles in 2005 and 2006 have been unable to emerge from the slump which dogged them last season.

Alonso finished a creditable fourth in an incident-hit opening race in Australia, but could only manage eighth 11 days ago in Malaysia

But despite the problems afflicting the team, Renault’s executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, insists the 26-year-old is having an energising effect.

“Fernando really is one of the positives and the effort we get from him is fantastic, as is his understanding of the race, the tactics and the whole business of Formula One,” said Symonds.

“He goes about things in a very calm way and I like that because I think it pervades through the team.

“I always like to try and put calmness in the team because I think it operates better that way, and it’s great when you have a driver who can do that.

“The other thing about him is his results are very motivational.

“He’s not a guy who has to go around motivating people because his ability and his results motivate people in themselves.

“Everyone knows that at the end of every race Fernando has put in 100% effort no matter the circumstances or what position he is racing for.

“That is incredibly motivating for the whole team, and then there is the sheer effort he puts in.

“The way he grabbed fourth position towards the end of the race in Australia, that was just so typical of Fernando and shows us that he never gives up.”

Although Symonds maintains the team have enjoyed “pretty good reliability” to start the season, he appreciates they are some way short of giving Alonso a car with which to win races.

“Behind McLaren and Ferrari there is a big bunch of teams all very closely matched,” added Symonds.

“But I think we have to believe that BMW, Toyota, and maybe even Williams, are ahead of us and we therefore have a lot of work to do.

“We had hoped that we would give Fernando a car that was capable of winning because we know that he can win, and so far we haven’t done that.

“That leads to some disappointment, but above all it leads to determination that we are going to give him that car.

“Everyone in the team hated last year, especially after two years of regular winning.

“Our determination is to get back to that standard and not to accept anything less than that.”