Rumors of sandbagging have always been rife during testing but those surrounding Renault recently have been more persistent than most. On the track, the cars have been occasionally quick but, more often, pretty ordinary. It is easy to think that they are holding back, unwilling to show the competition their full hand as yet.
Fernando Alonso
The usual claims of more tweaks to come before Melbourne abound, but every team has improvements on the way. What boosted the sandbagging idea was news of the mysterious W-wing that Renault were said to be keeping under wraps until the Australian GP. Now that the rumor has been revealed as a product of someone's clever Photoshopping skills, there is less reason to believe that Renault will be the surprise of the 2008 season.
In fact, from their performance in testing, one would have to say that the team is a little behind the tightly-packed bunch vying for third fastest after Ferrari and McLaren. Most commentators agree that BMW has overcome its initial problems and taken a slight lead over the others, but I would disagree and suggest Williams as the best of the rest. Red Bull have been very quick too and it looks to me as though these three teams, BMW, Williams and RBR, are so evenly matched as to be almost inseparable.
And that leaves Renault trailing somewhat, especially when it is remembered that we really have no idea how good Toyota will be, their decision to test with Ferrari rather than the others leaving us short of benchmarks. It would not surprise me if Toyota were to push Renault down yet another place at the beginning of the season.
It is no wonder that Renault supporters are grasping at the sandbagging straw, therefore. The team's lackluster form in testing must be the result of keeping something in reserve, they reason. When even Alonso says that the car is still a long way behind the level of the front runners, there has to be something going on.
Renault's "man who tells it like it is", Pat Symonds, gave a hint yesterday that there might be some truth in the sandbagging theory. With his statement that Ferrari's advantage is not as great as might appear, he gives hope that Renault will be very close to the Italian team come the Australian race. Since he includes Renault with McLaren and BMW as the teams immediately behind the leader, the temptation is to believe that he knows something we don't, all the indications being that Red Bull and Williams should be in that group, if not leading it.
Personally, I think Pat is being optimistic. On the evidence so far, I would say that McLaren, Williams and BMW will be the teams challenging Ferrari, probably in that order. Alonso was being honest when he said that Renault could not expect podium finishes in the early races of 2008.
Both Renault and Alonso are very good at recovering from setbacks, however. It should not take many races before the team are mixing it with the leaders, bringing back memories of their two championships in '05 and '06. There won't be a third to add this year but they will make a decent fight of it, even so.
As for team boss, Flavio Briatore, he is still busy with his personal war of words with McLaren. With his claim that he and Alonso were talking as early as the beginning of the 2007 season about a return to Renault for the Spaniard, he is just sticking the knife into Ron Dennis again. What he fails to see is that Ron really couldn't care less by now; McLaren have a pair of very quick drivers for 2008 and both are no doubt looking forward to rubbing Renault's nose in the dirt.