The French-owned team...

The French-owned team is currently fourth in the constructors’ championship, while its drivers have yet to finish higher than fifth in any of the year’s races.

Giancarlo Fisichella, who came eighth in Bahrain, revealed: “At the beginning of the season, the aim was to fight for pole position and win races. Now we just hope to score some points. It can only get better. It cannot be worse than this.

“I feel a little bit disappointed because at the start of the season I was confident I could fight for the championship. But we cannot do that any more. I am disappointed, but I need to do the best with what I have at the moment.” Team-mate, rookie Finn Heikki Kovalainen, had another difficult race. He just missed out on a point, finishing ninth.

Team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds said that the team must take the blame. Briatore claimed: “Both drivers did a strong job, but the car simply doesn’t have the pace. There is a lot of hard work ahead of us if we are to improve the situation.”

Fisichella added: “I pushed Jarno Trulli as hard as I could – but just ran out of laps to get past him. It’s disappointing not to achieve our maximum today, but ultimately, that maximum was only seventh.”