Rival Boss Admits That Renault Form Has Impressed Him

We may be only three races in to the new Formula One season but already things have got off to an intriguing start. That's no truer than in the middle of the pack where Renault are impressing one of their rivals.

The battle at the top of the grid in F1 this year is as fascinating as it's been in a while as drivers from two different teams lead the way. But slightly further back in the mid card things are looking interesting too.

Lewis Hamilton's battle with Sebastian Vettel, or Mercedes battle with Ferrari on a slightly wider scale, is just the fillip the sport has needed over the last few years of Silver Arrow dominance, that was preceded by Red Bull's own dominance.

_{Palmer battles with Alonso. Image: PA Images.}

Further down the track though things are heating up just as much with Force India, Williams and Toro Rosso starting their own intriguing rivalry.

However Force India team principal Bob Fernley revealed that Renault are also impressing him, speaking to Motorsport.com Fernley said;

"Renault have done a fantastic job over the winter, much better than I thought they would do, but we had identified that as a key issue.

"Going into testing, I felt we would be in a four-car battle with Williams, Toro Rosso and McLaren. Clearly McLaren didn't make it but Renault have stepped into where McLaren would be and I think it's going to be like that for the whole season.

"From what you can see at the moment it looks quite exciting. You've got two teams fighting at the front and four that are going to be battling for fourth place - obviously Red Bull are in the middle somewhere."

_{Hulkenberg has qualified seventh for the last two races. Image: PA Images}

The improvements that the French manufacturers have made are already visible. In Bahrain last week both Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer managed to get into the final qualifying session.

Also at the race Hulkenberg managed to finish in the points, last season it took the team a further week to get in the points and they only managed it three times in the whole season.

If Renault can continue to improve then they may be closer to that battle for fourth than anyone could have guessed.

Topics: Formula One, F1

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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