Kevin Magnussen says he thought Renault would have scored points by this stage of the 2016 season.
Renault has finished 11th at both races so far this year -- through Jolyon Palmer in Australia and Magnussen in Bahrain -- but on both occasions could have finished higher were it not for circumstances in the weekend. For Magnussen, a puncture on the opening lap in Australia and a pit-lane start in Bahrain hampered his chances and the Dane admits the team should have points to its name at this stage.
Asked whether Renault was overachieving at this stage of the year given the fact it has just returned to the grid, he replied: "It's difficult to say whether we are overachieving or not. I don't know what the real expectations were but we knew it was going to be difficult, but I was expecting to score points straight away -- maybe not big points, but I think we should have scored points, especially in Australia if we didn't have the puncture on the first lap.
"So it's difficult to say whether we are overachieving or not but we knew it was going to be difficult to begin with and then we will see what progress we will make. I know we have stuff coming later in the season, how much we have will be interesting to see. We don't know at the moment so will work with what we have, wait for the upgrades and see what they bring."
Magnussen thinks Renault's biggest problem currently is over one lap, an area he and the team expects to improve as the year goes on.
"Our biggest weakness at the moment is qualifying, in the race we are generally more competitive than qualifying so that's what we need to work on at the moment. It's a long-term plan and we knew this was going to be a transition year where everything is being ramped up again. Patience is important at this time but we'll get there.
"It's a really nice atmosphere in the team and you can really feel how everyone is exciting about the backing from Renault. It's a team that's been struggling for a few years, so now everyone's got that boost and everyone is happy. So the atmosphere is good in the team. We have a good car, it's not fast enough yet, we know that."