Renault Will Debut New Upgrades for R30 at Barcelona

Polish driver Robert Kubica revealed that Renault will come to Barcelona this week with a new set of upgrades, aimed at closing the gap to the championship big guns. Although he admitted he is happy with the way his car has progressed from the early Valencia test this month, the former BMW racer insisted his team is still behind in car development, as compared to the front-runners.

With Ferrari already confirming that they'll debut a whole new set of aerodynamic upgrades for their F10 in Barcelona, Renault seems to go the same path for the last testing meeting of the off-season.

“I would say we will have some upgrades. I don't know how big it will be. We hope for sure it will be big enough to come closer to the top teams, but we don't know how they will improve so it is a bit of guessing,” revealed Kubica, who powered his R30 to second overall in the timing reports during the latest test in Jerez.

Additionally, Kubica referred to the drivers' situation within his team, as this will be the first time he'll partner a rookie in Formula One. Russian Vitaly Petrov earlier this week insisted that he will not become Renault's No 2 driver in the series, and Kubica echoed his comments shortly after.

“I don't think there is really a leader. Of course Vitaly has never driven in F1 before, so he will need a bit of time to adapt and gain experience. So maybe he is still learning a bit and trying to understand all the processes and how things work in Formula 1,” added the Pole.

Until then, the Russian driver has plenty to worry about, as the first payment of his 15 million euro “installation fee” at Renault is yet to get into the Genii Capital (owners of the F1 team) accounts. According to reports, unless the money will be in by March 1st, Petrov will be ousted from the Enstone organization with immediate effect and Renault will have to find a replacement in due time.