Valencia Testing, Day 1,
The Renault F1 Team's final test session of the winter is
a two-day run in Valencia, prior to departure for Bahrain
and the first race.
The World Champion Renault F1 Team began today a two-day
test programme at Valencia. This is the final session before
leaving for Bahrain and the start of the 2006 season. Heikki
Kovalainen, the team's third driver, was in action with a
single R26 chassis.
The objective for the day was to cover a race distance and
continue tyre development. However, the team suffered mechanical
problems with the car at lunchtime, which cost valuable track
time. Heikki was able to run several more laps at the end
of the day to check the systems were working correctly, in
preparation for tomorrow's work – which the team hopes
will be a more productive day.
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: "It
was a tough day for us because of the mechanical problems:
we fixed them, but our programme was disrupted because of
it. However, the main thing for us is to be ready for Bahrain,
and finding and solving these problems is very important for
our preparation. Heikki had a very good day, and didn't make
any mistakes in spite of difficult circuit conditions. We
didn't do many laps, which makes it difficult for the driver
to find his rhythm. But this means tomorrow will definitely
be a very busy day!"
DRIVER - TEAM - BEST LAPS
1 ROSBERG Williams 1:11.026 86
2 DE LA ROSA McLaren 1:11.234 147
3 WEBBER Williams 1:11.367 68
4 KOVALAINEN Renault 1:11.449 55
5 PAFFET McLaren 1:13.052 72
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