When Renault announced that it had re-signed Giancarlo Fisichella for 2007, having lost Fernando Alonso and unlikely to secure the services of Kimi Raikkonen, there was widespread surprise, since the Italian had, for the most part, failed to cover himself in glory during his time with the French team. Indeed, one Renault insider admitted to Pitpass that the Italian's services had been retained for a third successive season because the team didn't want to be left "up the creek without a paddle".

In two seasons, whilst his teammate has gone on to win the title, Fisichella has only managed sixth place in the Drivers' Championship (2005) and fourth (2006), 2 wins to Alonso's 14, 130 points to the Spaniard's 267.

Partnered with Heikki Kovalainen, a driver in which Renault puts great store in 2007, Fisichella faces a critical task, for if he is overshadowed by the Finn, who is making his F1 debut, it could well mark the end of the Roman's career, at least with a top flight team.

Bob Bell is convinced that Fisichella will come good, but admitted that it's "now or never".

"If he doesn't find it this year, then I doubt if he ever will," the Englishman told The Times. "This, I think, really is a make-or-break year for Fisi. All we can do as a team is have confidence in his ability to rise to the challenge. We will give him the best equipment we humanly can and give him all the support we humanly can and see where that takes us."

"I wouldn't write the guy off at all," he added. "We will certainly start the season working completely on the assumption that Fisi is as capable of winning the world championship as Fernando or anybody else working at that level."

"He is great at coming back," Bell revealed. "When he has had a bad race, he is good at putting it behind him."

Thing is, Renault, which will be defending the Constructors' Championship which it has won in 2005 and 2006, cannot afford for Fisichella to have any more bad races.