Flavio Briatore has apologised to his drivers Hekki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella after a refuelling problem caused a change of strategy in Sunday’s race. Both drivers were forced to make an extra stop, ultimately causing the team to drop valuable points.

Renault are expecting a tough race at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Despite making progress with their car after a disappointing beginning to the season, Pat Symonds remains cautious about the future.

“The road back to our normal level of competitiveness will be a long one,” Symonds explained. “We are not expecting leaps forward in competitiveness this weekend.”

Enstone, a small village in England and headquarters of the Renault F1 team, will see the Renault team there in a crisis meeting later on this week. The meeting comes on the back of some poor results with the reigning constructors World Champions only fourth in the 2007 season so far.

The 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix will see Renault pay tribute to the late Chairman and CEO of Hanjin Shipping, Mr Sooho Cho. The Renault’s car will run with a tribute branding replacing the standard Hanjin logo.

Renault have announced that they have left the GPMA with immediate effect. The remaining teams in the GPMA are just Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Honda.

Toyota left last August as it became clear that there was a stand-off between the car manufacturers and the sport’s governing body and the threat of a breakaway championship to rival Formula 1 was coming to a close.

Heikki Kovalainen is playing down the high expectations of him next season, and has refused to name himself as a winner when the season begins at Australia in March. “I am not thinking of going to Melbourne and getting pole and winning,” he admitted. “I just want to do clean laps and do the maximum.

Renault officially launched their 2007 car today with a pledge to retain the world championship for a third successive season. Renault have already tested the R27 in front of the media, but today was the first time it had been seen in it’s striking new livery. Following the departure of Mild Seven, the old light blue livery has been replaced with the orange and white of their new sponsors, Dutch firm ING.

Renault F1’s 2007 contender made its second appearance, this time at Jerez, for its official shakedown prior to the official launch in Amsterdam later this month. The R27 also attended Silverstone last Wednesday for aerodynamic tests, completing just 20km of testing.

Renault Boss Flavio Briatore has stated he believes that despite signing World Champion Fernando Alonso, McLaren will continue to struggle in the 2007 season.

Flavio Briatore has said he is unlikely to let Alonso break his contract early, despite attempts by McLaren to get him into their new car last week. McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh said “We would like Renault to recognise everything that he has done for them and release him to come and test for us. We have requested it, and if they said yes, we could do it.”