Renault's Vitaly Petrov is confident he can spring a surprise during qualifying at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.
Last year Petrov's team-mate Robert Kubica qualified on the front row - much to the surprise of the frontrunners Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari - and finished third in the race. Petrov could only manage 14th on the grid, but is looking to emulate Kubica's 2010 performance this time around.
"It's a different type of race, a one-off," Petrov said of Monaco. "Qualifying will be very important. I feel we can qualify for the race very strongly and near to the front - this will be the key here, of that there's no doubt. If you don't qualify well, it makes it very difficult to move up a long way because there are not too many overtaking opportunities. It's a tight circuit and opportunities are at a premium so Saturday will be an absolutely crucial day for us."
However, tyre management has been at a premium over race weekends this year because the tyres the driver uses in qualifying are the same ones he uses in the race. On most tracks there is an advantage in saving fresh sets of tyres during qualifying, sometimes at the cost of a higher grid position, in order to have brand new tyres on Sunday. But because overtaking is so difficult in Monaco, tyre conservation may not be so critical. Renault's technical director James Allison said the team's strategy would depend on how the tyres behave in practice.
"If the indications from free practice reveal that the tyres are hanging together in race trim, then the inherent difficulty of overtaking at Monaco will mean it is less crucial to conserve virgin tyres," he said. "If the tyres look critical in free practice, then there will be a very strong incentive to save sets for the race."
Team principal Eric Boullier said Renault would look to take advantage of the tyre situation.
"Historically Enstone cars have been good in Monaco, and I think our car will be good there this time too," he said. "The tyre strategies will be very complicated, but it could also work well for us so we will see how we get on. The track itself is so different to anything else you will see in the sport's calendar - it is twisting and turning with very few chances to pass other cars. Not only that, but the track evolves over the weekend - because of the fact it is a public road normally - so we can expect to see cars improve their performance after Thursday. As a team, we can hardly wait for the weekend."
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