With Robert Kubica out of action for the forseeable future, Nick Heidfeld has had the difficult task of fitting in at Renault without knowing when his gig will come to an end. With Vitaly Petrov entering only his second year in the sport, and the team not 100% convinced that he has the whole package, the development rests on Heidfeld's shoulders.

Team boss Éric Boullier has been happy with how Heidfeld has slipped into the lead driver role, and despite a minor setback at the final Barcelona test when Nick was struck down with an illness, things are progressing nicely.

Nick wasn't afraid of giving feedback, either, when asked if he was content with the reliability of the car: "No, I am not happy. You are only happy if you don't have any problems, and we have had too many, which cost us too much testing time. That's crucial this year, with such limited running, and new systems and new tyres. The positive thing is that none of those problems look as if they can't be solved before the first race."

Meanwhile, Petrov believes that there will be only one key element to races: "Strategy will be a big thing. Knowing whether to come in earlier or stay out a bit longer will be quite tricky, because of whether you have a slower car, or a faster car, or whether you have traffic."