It's not easy to be noticed when you are the teammate of one of Formula One's most talked about drivers. It's even harder when the mechanical problems or other drivers take you out of the races. But that's life for Jarno Trulli at the moment. However, despite all the problems he is determined to fight his way back to the spotlight. Will Gray talks to Trulli about coping with being Fernando Alonso's teammate. Exclusive for Atlas F1

Renault boss Flavio Briatore's admission that he is developing the Anglo-French team around his new kid on the block Fernando Alonso could have ruined the career of the young Spanish starlet's teammate Jarno Trulli. But Italian Trulli is determined not to become another Rubens Barrichello.

Briatore worked with Michael Schumacher during his Benetton days and the team always revolved around the German, using the philosophy that concentrating all efforts on one car can win a drivers' title and that the Constructors' Championship will fall into place with a good number two.

It proved right, as Schumacher went on to claim two world titles for the team - first with Ford engines in 1994 and then with Renault engines the following year - before setting flight to Ferrari, complete with his technical back-up of Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, to set up a new nest at Maranello.

Since then, Schumacher et al have done it again, concentrating their efforts on the German, to take him to three consecutive world titles in the last three years and hauling in four Constructors' Championships along the way with the help of Ulsterman Eddie Irvine and current 'number two' Brazilian Barrichello.

Ferrari openly admitted last year that they put their efforts into one car once there is a significant gap between their two drivers in the Championship standings, and they openly displayed that in Austria last year with the controversial team order that shot Formula One back into the headlines.

The move had disastrous public relations consequences for the team, as Barrichello waited until the last corner of the final lap to move over for Schumacher, in a public display of his dissatisfaction over his contractual obligations to move over for the sake of the team.

The incident resulted in the banning of all team tactics, a situation which has been debated by many drivers who do not believe such a ban is possible to implement, but that still does not mean a team cannot concentrate their efforts on one man.

It only takes a look back to Schumacher's years at Benetton to spot that such tactics reap rewards and also ensure team orders are not even needed, because the second driver - be it Martin Brundle, Riccardo Patrese, Jos Verstappen or Johnny Herbert - could rarely compete while Schumacher was still out on track.

This year, Briatore has already hinted of an imminent strategic shift that could see Renault focus their efforts, like Ferrari, on one man for the sake of the Championship and, considering the current relative performance between Alonso and Trulli, that man is likely to be the Spaniard.

But that has not happened yet. And it won't, if Trulli has anything to do with it. "As far as I'm racing in Formula One, I never saw a number one or number two driver because the team has got two cars and has to score points with both cars and that is how it works," he told Atlas F1 in Austria last weekend.

"Apparently, at this team there is no number one or number two strategy-wise. I'm not the number two driver, as I wasn't before. I'm also not a number one driver this year, and I never felt I was number one. I'm not worried, to be honest. Fernando is not really my problem at the moment.

"We get on really good. Basically, we are both simple, there are no politics, no mind games, nothing. We just get on with doing our job. We talk a lot, we phone each other to see what are the developments. Normally, the atmosphere is good. I think we both know that we are very strong and when we watch together we can see one is stronger than the other in some areas and so we try to take the best part of the other driver.

"And even if they build the team around Fernando, it doesn't mean that they don't race with the second car. The quickest drivers are always ahead and this can happen in one race, then not in another, and then it happens again so I'm not really worried. I just have to be quick."

Trulli, who joined the Anglo-French team at the start of last season, is obviously keen to stay with Renault, alongside Briatore's golden boy Alonso, and continue to benefit from the team's rapid rise from the back of the grid to the top of the podium.

In fact, it is not that long since Trulli was himself the kingpin of the team. Briton Jenson Button, who was in his second year with the outfit last season having survived a nightmare year with them at the wrong end of the grid, will remember the effect Trulli had on the team for some time.

Button, after a winter of hard work following criticism of his performance in 2001, was desperate to make a go of Renault but it soon became clear that Trulli was the man they believed their future to be with and, eventually, Button was left with little support as he prepared for his new life at BAR-Honda.

Now, it seems, Trulli is experiencing a similar, if less extreme, balance with Alonso, but he is still happy with life in the yellow and blue corner. "At the moment I want to stay," he says. "The team have really followed my direction and looks like it's giving good results. We have definitely done a lot in terms of car development over the winter time and the car this year is much better and much easier to drive, because I wasn't very happy with last year's car. I was always struggling a lot because it wasn't really my car and it wasn't really suitable for me.

"Definitely, it would be nice to stay here because I'm working very well with Fernando, we have very similar driving styles and it's good for me and good for the team as well. At the moment Renault is doing very well but I think that the team still needs a bit more time."

Trulli cites the radical wide v-angle engine, and its lack of power, as one of the Anglo-French outfit's biggest problems but that looks set to be resolved after the recent departure of engine guru Jean Jacques His, who pointed towards plans for a less radical design for future developments.

But the biggest Achille's heel that Trulli is experiencing this year is not the engine, nor it is the car, and it is not, apparently, his relationships with his teammate or his team. The one thing that is getting him down is the performance of his rival drivers and the fact that they keep knocking him off the track.

"Things are not turning on my side," Trulli says. "I have had very bad luck and I'm just hoping that things will get better. Fernando is not my problem. The problem is I cannot race at the moment - and if I don't race then I cannot score points and show people what I can do. In Malaysia I had an accident because Michael hit me at the second corner and I lost any chance of getting a result. Even then I made it back to fifth, but it would have been nice to get on the podium and it would have been pretty easy in that race.

"In Brazil things went wrong when someone spun in front of me and I had to avoid him and so I spun as well. Then Imola was a disaster because the engine blew up just before qualifying so I had to step in the T-car and we only found out with a back-to-back that this car was a full second slower than the other chassis.

"At Barcelona I only made it through one corner. That's it! I don't exactly understand how it happened, because everything happened so quickly. I was following the group, came out fourth from the first corner and by that second I saw David (Coulthard). He came across, not leaving me any space to react, and we just collided.

"I'm not saying it's his fault or my fault but I didn't have any choice. We had a big chance to get both cars on the podium there but I didn't have a race. I have been very angry and very upset a lot this year because often I knew I was going to fight for the win and every time someone takes away this opportunity.

"Anyone can make a mistake but what makes me angry is every time it happens to me... It just happens, and it is not my fault. I don't understand why it happens all to me. It's just bad luck that doesn't want to turn around. It will. It has to change.

"I'm not doing bad things. I'm not making big mistakes. You can argue about the accidents. In any of the accidents I had this year I was just keeping my line and suddenly found myself out of the race. It is just so frustrating, but hopefully things will change..."