Having described Heikki Kovalainen's maiden F1 performance as "rubbish", and advised that it is time that backmarkers be discipline with a rifle, Renault boss Flavio Briatore turned his attention on tyres.

Speaking to reporters following a disappointing season opener, during which his lead driver, Giancarlo Fisichella, had to be given a wake up call, Briatore said: "We know we are behind, we knew this from the beginning. We have a problem because the moment we put the Bridgestone on the 2006 car, immediately McLaren was quicker than us. Our car was so well-balanced with the Michelins, we lost more than anybody.

"The performance today really was a little bit worse than what we expected," he admitted.

Although Fisichella eventually finished fifth, over a minute behind the winner, it should not be forgotten that Felipe Massa started from the back of the grid and finished less than 0.4s behind the Italian. Had the Brazilian not suffered a technical failure in qualifying there is every reason to believe that he would have finished on the podium, with the lead Renault possibly finishing sixth.

That said, Renault, in addition to a strong basic package, has continuity, and therefore it would be ludicrous to start talking of the end of its reign. In previous seasons the doom and gloom mob have focussed on Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, now it has a new target.

That said, the French team's Executive Director of Engineering, Pay Symonds, admitted that there is work to be done: "I did think we could outrace BMW and we didn't outrace BMW," he said. "The fact that we've now got a better picture now of the relative competitiveness doesn't really alter the way we go about things.

"This time last year we were out in front but we were still working pretty hard to make sure that we stayed there," he continued. "The important thing is to try and analyse where we can best put the limited resources that you always have to try and close that gap down, and that's really where the analysis will be going on this week. We have three days of testing in Malaysia before the next race, there are a few new bits coming as always, so we're working from there."