MANAMA - World championship leaders Renault believe their strong start to the season will pay dividends at the end of the year after securing their third successive victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix here Sunday.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso raced from pole position to the chequered flag to secure his second successive victory and put himself ten points clear of second-placed Toyota driver Jarno Trulli of Italy in the drivers' championship.
And Renault boss Pat Symonds said: "While every race might be worth the same number of points there is no doubt that if you get a good start it gives everything impetus.
"So I suppose, in reality, good results at the start of the season are probably worth more than those at the end, and you have to say we have had a very good start.
"This year, to be honest, the cars that we have been leading the races with have not had to run at full speed either, so we have something in hand.
"But we are certainly not taking anything for granted just yet."
Things did not all go smoothly for Renault as Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who won the first Grand Prix of the season in Australia, was forced to retire for the second successive race.
But although Fisichella crashed out in Malaysia when he collided with the Williams of Australian Mark Webber and then succumbed to engine failure here Sunday he is still third in the drivers' title race.
Alonso was able to lap the new Ferrari F2005 of Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in Bahrain as the reigning world champions struggled with the car after bringing it in two races earlier than originally planned.
Symonds believes Ferrari will still come back stronger when their problems are solved and he is sure that they will be more competitive when the championship returns to Europe from the opening fly-away races.
"We have had three reasonably different sorts of track, some different conditions and the car has gone well in all of them," said Symonds. "(Lapping Ferrari) was pleasing, but not necessarily typical.
"It is not something we are going to get arrogant or complacent about."
Michael Schumacher was pretty quick at the beginning and Barrichello obviously had tyre problems, so I am sure it is not something that is going to happen often."
Ferrari had things all their own way last season as they dominated the year with 15 wins from 18 races and secured a record points haul in both the drivers' and constructors' championships.
Renault have shown similar form by dominating in the opening races this season, securing their 100th victory as an engine manufacturer and their 20th victory as a team with victory here in Bahrain.
It was the first time in history that Renault have scored a hat-trick of victories but Symonds does not believe they are dominant and said: "The speed difference between Ferrari and the rest of us last year was a damned site more.
"I still think that Ferrari and McLaren and Toyota, who are definitely there now, are going to be fighting us hardest and Imola is a type of circuit that we haven't tackled yet, so lets see what happens there."

04/04/2005 12:40 GMT