Silverstone Testing, Day 1
Day 1 of three in Silverstone for the Renault F1
Team.
The Renault F1 Team started today a three-day test programme
in Silverstone to prepare the forthcoming European races and
especially the British Grand Prix which will take place on
this circuit on June 11, 2006.
Owing to poor weather conditions, the team was obliged to
adapt his testing programme.
Indeed, although Heikki Kovalainen was initially supposed
to complete a heavy tyre programme with our partner Michelin,
the Finn worked on gearbox development while waiting for better
track conditions. However, he performed well in spite of poor
track conditions and set the third-fastest lap-time of the
day in 1:21.241.
Fernando Alonso, on track today and tomorrow, had a more
difficult day. The poor weather conditions combined with mechanical
problems during the afternoon prevented the Spaniard from
completing his programme. He did only 31 laps today with the
fourth-fastest laptime in 1:21.311.
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: "We had a difficult
morning with very poor track conditions. We ran general systems
checks first of all and finally when the track had improved,
we began our programme. Heikki and Fernando were very happy
with the balance of the car and were competitive straight
away. In spite of the problem we had on Fernando's car we
are satisfied with this first day of testing. We are just
hoping for better weather conditions tomorrow!"
On track tomorrow to continue the testing programme of the
Renault F1 Team: Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella.
DRIVER - TEAM - BEST LAPS
1 MONTOYA McLaren 1 :21.071 42
2 BUTTON Hondq 1 :21.143 59
3 KOVALAINEN Renault 1 :21.241 85
4 ALONSO Renault 1 :21.311 31
5 DAVIDSON Honda 1 :22.083 68
6 KLIEN Red Bull 1 :22.207 37
7 ROSBERG Williams 1:22.242 107
8 VILLENEUVE BMW 1:22.266 57
9 WURZ Williams 1:22.335 86
10 KUBICA BMW 1:22.719 58
11 JANI Toro Rosso 1 :23.360 84
12 DE LA ROSA McLaren 1:23.540 37
13 COULTHARD Red Bull 1:23.777 14
14 MONDINI Midland F1 1:24.467 24
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