Renault: Fisi driving better than ever

[The Stig]

Renault’s head of race engineering Alan Permane believes Giancarlo Fisichella is currently driving better than ever despite the team’s difficult start to 2007.

The world champion squad has raced in the midfield for much of the season so far, yet Fisichella sits sandwiched between the two BMW drivers in the drivers’ standings after scoring points in all but one of the year’s opening five races.

The experienced Italian was praised by team boss Flavio Briatore after taking Renault’s best result of the year with fourth place in Monaco and Permane reckons the 34-year-old is on top form.

“It's a circuit he loves, it rewards his natural talent and he did a great job in Monaco,” Permane said.

“Right now, Giancarlo is driving as well as I have ever seen him.

“Circumstances have been difficult, but he has worked hard on getting the most out of the car, pushed hard on every lap - and taken advantage of each small performance gain.

“He is in a very confident frame of mind, and the next two circuits are places where he has always raced very strongly.”

Permane also had words of encouragement for Fisichella’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who has only scored two points so far in his debut year.

The Finnish rookie described his Monaco Grand Prix experience as a “weekend to forget” after being blocked by David Coulthard in qualifying and then running in traffic on the way to a lowly 13th place in the race.

However Permane has backed Kovalainen to come back even stronger from the disappointment and show his true form in the improved R27.

“It was a tough weekend mentally, because I think that it was very hard for him to learn from the experience - he got blocked in qualifying through no fault of his own, and that basically dictated his result on Sunday,” Permane said.

“But Heikki has already demonstrated this year that he is a tough character, and that he bounces back quickly from disappointment.

“He is still learning and still improving; his attitude has been exemplary; and I think the developments we have put on the car to improve its driveability, will help him to start showing the level of performance we know he is capable of.”