It was immediately obvious that the R30 was more competitive than the R29. Robert Kubica enjoyed a string of strong finishes early in the year and Renault established themselves as the main rivals of Mercedes for 4th in the Constructor's Championship. However, Renault had to settle for 5th by season's end but Kubica's and Vitaly Petrov's double-points-finish in the final race of the year capped off what was an encouraging season for the team which struggled so sorely in 2009.