Renault day 3 Testing Jerez
Day three of testing in Jerez saw Fernando Alonso get his
first taste of the R26, completing over 300 km. Giancarlo
Fisichella worked on endurance tyre development with the R25.
The Renault F1 Team continued development work with the R26
today, with World Champion Fernando Alonso taking over driving
duties from team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella in the new car.
The Spaniard had a slow start to the day, after a muscular
pain saw him sit out the morning while he received treatment.
During this time, Giancarlo drove the car in order to conduct
systems checks and log data. Fernando was able to begin working
again at lunchtime, suffering no after effects, and began
his programme in the new car with a serie of short familiarisation
runs to get a feel for the machine. After that, he began endurance
running in the afternoon as the team once again aimed to maximise
mileage with the new package. The Spaniard completed several
long runs, in spite of his running being fragmented owing
to several red flags.
Giancarlo Fisichella ran with the R25 throughout the day,
using the reliable platform of the old car to conduct tyre
development with Michelin, working on both short and long
runs. He completed nearly 100 laps during the day.
Fernando Alonso: “I had a very good first day in the
R26 today. I was hoping that it would feel similar to the
R25, because that was a very good car for the drivers. The
good news for me is that the new car was still easy to drive,
it was consistent when we did some longer runs, and we didn’t
have any mechanical problems today. It was the first test
with the new V8 engine, we didn’t have any problems,
and the feeling was similar to the simulation we have been
running this winter. That was good because it means we have
already prepared well in our testing. The performance of the
package felt good, although at such an early stage there are
still lots of areas to improve. But this is the first January
test with a brand new car. Taking that into account, I think
we are in a strong position.”
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “We had another
very encouraging day of testing in Jerez. Neither car suffered
any major problems, although of course this is more noteworthy
on the R26. The biggest encouragement is that today felt like
a normal day’s testing, even though the car is only
three days old: everything went very smoothly and the reliability
already seems to be strong, although of course we will continue
to work to improve every area. Our priority with the R26 was
once again to put miles on the package, and we had a good
day from that point of view as we completed longer runs in
the afternoon. Giancarlo ran an extensive tyre development
programme to orientate our development in the coming weeks,
and obtained plenty of useful information.”
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