San Marino GP, Saturday - 22 APR 2006
The Renault F1 Team suffered at the hands of the 2006 knockout
qualifying system this afternoon in Imola, and Fernando Alonso
and Giancarlo Fisichella will line up 5th and 11th for tomorrow's
San Marino Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso completed a normal and trouble-free session
in the warmest conditions of the weekend, to secure fifth
position on the clean side of the grid for tomorrow's race.
He is pleased with the balance of the R26 after struggling
for grip yesterday, and remains confident that the team's
strategy will see him improve his position in the race.
As for Giancarlo Fisichella, he will start eleventh –
and free to determine his fuel load for the first stint –
after being knocked out the second qualifying heat by just
hundredths of a second. However, after improving the car's
handling relative to yesterday, he will look to make up plenty
of positions in the race.
FA GF
Heat 1 1:23.536 1:24.434
Heat 2 1:23.743 1:23.771
Super-Pole 1:23.709 (P5) n/a
Fernando Alonso, 5th position
I don't think fifth is the perfect place to start at this
circuit because overtaking is so difficult, but we are not
in such a bad position either. There was a lot of traffic
during the third part of qualifying and I came quite close
to the 110% time on some of the laps, but when I did my timed
laps at the end of qualifying, the car felt good and the track
was clear. The balance is better than it was yesterday and
feels correct for the race, so now we need to try and make
up positions at the start, and believe in the strategy we
have chosen. I also wish to clarify comments I made yesterday
after they were interpreted in this morning's press. I want
to reiterate that I have always enjoyed total technical support
from Renault. Renault is known everywhere as a team that treats
both of its drivers fairly and equally.
Giancarlo Fisichella, 11th position
What can I say? I am very disappointed to only start eleventh
at my home race. The balance of the car felt much better than
yesterday, so we should have been in the top ten for sure.
I think we may have made a mistake in how we managed the second
session, because I think we could have run again at the end,
but this is something we will learn for the future. Looking
ahead to tomorrow, we now have a lot of options for our strategy,
and we will work tonight to find the best one. The speed and
consistency are there to have a good race.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
Giancarlo was very unlucky to be on the wrong end of a big
bunch of cars within one tenth of a second in the second knockout
session. The eleven millisecond deficit to the competitors
in front of him, means we face a very different strategic
challenge tomorrow, but it is one that we can rise to. As
for Fernando, he looks a little further back on the grid than
normal. However, we have managed our weekend with our main
challengers in mind, and we feel that we have done the right
thing to get the best possible result in tomorrow's race.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Trackside Engine Operations
After a trouble-free weekend, we fell into the one of the
traps of the new qualifying format this afternoon, with Giancarlo
failing to proceed into the super-pole session. This is clearly
a disappointment, but he now has a lot of strategic options
for the race tomorrow. Fernando's session ran smoothly, and
we have made certain deliberate decisions that will only be
proved right or wrong on Sunday evening after the chequered
flag has fallen. In terms of the engines, everything ran well,
both for Giancarlo's new B spec unit, and Fernando's V8 which
is completing its second weekend.
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