We want to get third place in the championship - Renault

This weekend, the European GP is scheduled at the Nürbürgring. The two ING Renault F1 Team drivers, Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen, gave their thoughts during their regular Thursday press briefing this afternoon in the Eifel mountains.

Giancarlo: "It’s fair to say that we have had two disappointing races, especially because they were both home races for us! All the teams are making progress, and our target is to go even faster than them. We want to get third place in the championship, and we are working in the right direction to do it. Our work will end up paying off."

Heikki: "Nothing’s finished yet. Everybody in the team knows that we are only at the halfway point, and that means there are still a lot of races left. The team has done a brilliant job to solve the problems from earlier in the season. We are determined to show everybody we can bounce back. I am convinced we can make it to P3 in the championship. It will be hard, but we will do it."

GF: "I think we have an important contribution to make, but the most important thing is the team. We have given everything to identify the problems, and find the best way to solve them. Once again, I have to thank everybody back at the factory. As drivers, we have to give the best possible feedback. The team has showed its experience this year, because everybody stayed calm and worked towards the target: finding more performance. We have to thank them for that."

HK: "We were not happy with how the championship started, I made too many mistakes and the team was not at the top level. But we should stay positive: we have improved every race… the car, me, everybody. If we can maintain this pace of development until the end of the year, we can be pleased with our season."

GF: "The most important thing here is good traction. We use high downforce, but we have to be careful with the understeer as well. We try and run a softer front end, with springs and bars, than we normally would to get rid of it."

HK: "This will be my first time in an F1 car, but in GP2, it was my best race: I won on Saturday after finishing P17. I hope it will be a good weekend!"