Flavio Briatore has expressed frustration with how some of Renault's formula one rivals have handled the current so-called 'freeze' on engine development.

The Renault boss told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday that the French team conformed with both the spirit and the letter of the rules to halt costly development of the current 2.4 litre V8 engines for several years.

"We were done in," he said.

"Others took another course and are far ahead of us now," Briatore insisted.

It is not clear which teams Briatore is referring to, but earlier this year we reported that a leading outfit may have found a way to creep ahead in the horse power department by requesting changes to its engine on the grounds of improving reliability.

"No-one complained about it," an unnamed engineer told the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, "for fear that they might also genuinely need to do the modification."

It is interesting that Briatore's comments come just days after it emerged that the FIA is now to begin a process of randomly and thoroughly inspecting the manufacturers' 2008-specification engines.

Source. GMM