Renault buoyed after difficult week

SINGAPORE: Renault go to Japan this week keen to draw a line under the race-fix scandal that has dogged them at Singapore, with team principal Bob Bell admitting it had been a difficult few days.

The mood in the camp has brightened after Fernando Alonso won the French manufacturer's their first podium finish of the season on Sunday when he came third behind McLaren winner Lewis Hamilton and Toyota's Timo Glock.

Bell, who has replaced the disgraced Flavio Briatore after the Italian's part in team orders for Nelson Piquet to deliberately crash here last year, said the result was a great outcome in the circumstances.