Barcelona could be a turning point in Renault’s 2010 season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite the tumult of the crashgate scandal and the pre-season period, the Enstone based team – and particularly Robert Kubica – has had a surprisingly strong start, trailing Mercedes by just 14 points after four races.<\/p>\n
But some teams – notably Mercedes – will use vastly upgraded cars at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend.<\/p>\n
Pole Kubica admits Spain could be a “big test for us” because the R30 will not be fundamentally different to the car raced in China two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
“We are not planning to bring any huge updates, but we will keep gradually improving the car, just like we did during the first four races,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We have to wait and see how we compare with the others; maybe the order of the teams will be quite different compared to the start of the year,” added Kubica.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the last winter test at Barcelona was not a good one for the yellow and red car, and chief engineer Alan Permane admits that Mercedes might make a step away from Renault this weekend.<\/p>\n
“Mercedes may move away from us a little bit but we’ve got a new front wing and some other new aerodynamic parts that should help us make another step forward,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s not the biggest update we’ve had this year, but it continues our approach of adding new parts at each race,” added Permane.<\/p>\n
Force India’s Adrian Sutil on Tuesday told spox.com that Renault “are within striking distance”.<\/p>\n
But the German is not expecting the pecking-order to change radically in Spain, despite some reports predicting a huge step forward for Mercedes.<\/p>\n
“If that happened, then I would cease to understand a few things about formula one,” said Sutil.<\/p>\n
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