By Matt Majendie BBC Sport Online

The Renault Formula One team have brought forward by a year their ambitions of battling for the world championship.

Renault Sport chairman Patrick Faure has committed the team to battling for the title by next season - last year, he said it would be 2005 at the earliest.

Faure, speaking at the team's official 2003 launch, said: "It is always difficult to fix objectives - you have to be realistic and not be too ambitious.

"We are still not in a position to fight Ferrari and Williams, but we want to be one of the top two teams.

It's a great car to drive and I think it's going to be a great season for us Fernando Alonso

"This year we have to finish on the podium at least four or five times, and be on the heels of the third-placed team, and in 2004 we will really fight for the title.

"That is ambitious but realistic."

Renault finished fourth last season, but were some way off the pace of Williams and McLaren, who were second and third.

If they are to be more competitive in 2003, they will need more power from their radical wide-angle engine this year.

That was the biggest handicap holding back what was otherwise a competitive car last season.

Renault have retained the Italian Jarno Trulli as one of their drivers for 2003 and he will be joined by highly-rated Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

Alonso said that the car had impressed the driving in testing so far, even though the definitive aerodynamics will not be ready for another month.

"It's a great car to drive and I think it's going to be a great season for us," he said.

Technical director Mike Gascoyne said this year's R23 chassis was the first "real Renault" - the team has been rebuilt since the car company bought Benetton in 2000.

"This is the first real Renault, produced in the way we want to produce our cars. I am proud of what we've achieved on the aerodynamic side," he said.

"It is the most development and the most intense time we have spent on a new car."