Great steps for Renault

It's been a very good start to the 2011 Formula One season for the Renault team.

In Australia Vitaly Petrov finished on the podium for the team and in Malaysia Nick Heidfeld matched that performance with another third placed finish.

Heidfeld who was a late replacement for Robert Kubica following the Polish drivers rally incident, qualified in sixth, but soon found himself up to second after a great start to the Grand Prix.

'The start was fantastic, good fun, In Australia I made up many positions at the start, but I didn't expect the same starting from sixth.' Heidfeld told the BBC after the race.

Heidfeld believes his podium position was down to tyre management, with Renault delaying their pit stops to stay on their planned strategy and then when he became under pressure from Red Bull's Mark Webber, the Australian just didn't have enough left in his own rubber to make a challenge.

'In the first stint there were some drops coming down and I called the box to say tyres going off. They said 'stay out' as we didn't want an extra pitstop.

'We had some good pace later on, especially with the Prime tyres and then had to defend from Mark who came flying by, then Mark attacked but his tyres started to degrade.'

'My first podium for Lotus Renault is a great step.'

While it is great to see Nick Heidfeld back in Formula One and back on the podium for the first time in two years, it would have been interesting to see just how good Kubica could have been in this seasons Renault.