Symonds hails the Alonso effect

Pat Symonds has hailed the effect Fernando Alonso has had on Renault since making his return to the team at the start of the year.

Alonso, the prodigal son at Renault, returned to the team with whom he won the 2005 and 2006 World titles after a disappointing and tension-fraught season with McLaren last year.

And although this year's Championship looks set to be a difficult one for Renault and Alonso given their lack of pace, Symonds reckons they has the desire to fight thanks to the Spaniard's motivating force.

"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 motivate 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."

But even with the Alonso effect, Renault's executive director of engineering reckons it's still going to take some time before the team can give him a car capable of winning races.

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

"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."