Every championship is the best
Renault boss Flavio Briatore admitted he was relieved to see Fernando Alonso secure the drivers` title here at Interlagos on Sunday because he was worried the team might throw it away.
Spaniard Alonso had led the title battle from the second race of the year and maintained a 20 to 30 point advantage over closest rival Kimi Raikkonen all the way to his ultimate victory in Brazil. The team has had impeccable reliability all season but Briatore said: "It was only for us a possibility to lose the championship, because everyone has been congratulating me all the time for ages.
"I mean, that is bad luck as well, and if you lose it would be terrible, so this is good news to do it. Every championship is the best. It is a super effort from my people, from the team, from Fernando, we are very happy."
Briatore last lifted a world title with outgoing champion Michael Schumacher, who he helped steer to championship victory with the Benetton team in both 1994 and 1995 before the German moved to Ferrari in 1996. Benetton lost form when Schumacher left but Renault took over in 2002, the year Alonso joined the team as a test driver, and Briatore has built them back up from back-of-the-grid strugglers to their current level in just four years.
They are still fighting for the constructors` world title, a battle that they will do well to win considering closest rivals McLaren are now on top of their game and took a two-point lead after Sunday`s race. But Briatore is still feeling no extra pressure and said: "We have pressure all the time by being in Formula One, I have been in this business for 15 years and there is pressure all the time, but I am happy."
In fact, with the driver`s championship Renault`s main priority, this year has been one of the easier championships that Briatore has fought thanks to the early points cushion Alonso built up with three wins from the first four races.
"Michael`s championship in 1994 was very hard because it went to one point," said Briatore. "This one we have had a good advantage, we had a very good start to the season, a good advantage. The first part of the season we were very, very competitive, the second part of the season McLaren were very, very competitive but we did enough to win the championship, anyway.
"This year was a hard fight between Raikkonen and Fernando, fighting like that it is fantastic for Formula One, and we have done an incredible job after four years of Renault, it is great."
But there will be no easing up at Renault once this year`s championship is over and Briatore is expecting even more competition from their rivals when Alonso begins his defence of the title in 2006. Ferrari have fallen by the wayside this year due to regulation changes that they failed to cope with while regular from runners Williams have also taken a tumble and BAR have failed to build on a promising 2004 season.


Tags: renault, flavio-briatore, title, constructors, championship,