San Marino GP, PRACTICE
The Renault F1 Team's weekend in San Marino began with two
routine practice sessions today in Imola.
The morning session saw the team's two drivers completely
only installation laps, before beginning their programmes
this afternoon with several set-up changes to achieve a stable
balance on the R26. Their work was hampered by poor circuit
conditions and very low grip levels; as a result, neither
driver was satisfied with the handling by the end of the session.
In spite of this, the cars were encouragingly quick, and overnight
set-up changes combined with additional running tomorrow morning,
should see both Renaults in a strong position for the afternoon's
qualifying session.
Fernando Alonso, P1, 18 laps total, 1:25.043
As usual on the Friday, the grip levels were quite bad. That
makes the car inconsistent to drive, and we began working
on the set-up to try and improve things. We are not there
yet, and we are suffering from too much understeer at the
moment. I think we are quick as well but as always, the times
on Friday don't mean too much. If we can make some good changes
tonight, though, I think we will be a in a strong situation
for the race.
Giancarlo Fisichella, P6, 17 laps total, 1:25.991
I had a difficult day to be honest. The balance of the car
is not good and the grip is very low on the track. The main
problem is in the chicanes where the handling is inconsistent,
which means you cannot attack them with any confidence. We
have a lot of work to do tonight, to reach our normal level
of performance.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
In very low grip conditions such as we experienced today,
it is perfectly understandable that neither driver is particularly
happy with the balance of the car at the moment. We made some
limited changes to the set-up in the second session and we
seem to be going in the right direction, so we will continue
to study the data overnight to solve the problems. All things
considered, our relative competitiveness seems to be where
we would expect.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Trackside Engine Operations
We had another normal day of Friday practice today. For the
engine team, that means calibrating the engine mapping and
control systems, which we did without incident. The weather
conditions were perfect, contrary to some forecasts, and we
hope they will stay that way for the rest of the weekend.
It was pleasing to see both cars in a strong position after
having done very little running, and Giancarlo's B spec engine
is performing in line with our expectations. This has been
a solid start, that we will look to build from in tomorrow
morning's final practice session.
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