European GP, Friday 05/05/06
The Renault F1 Team began the European Grand Prix weekend
in its usual diligent fashion today at the Nürburgring,
with Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella finishing the
day in the top ten after completing a programme aimed at tuning
the car to the demands of the German circuit.
Conditions were warm and sunny all day, but grip levels out
on track were low and both drivers struggled with an inconsistent
car balance. However, overnight changes plus further running
should see the handling improve along with the circuit conditions,
to allow the Renaults to challenge strongly in qualifying
tomorrow.
Fernando Alonso, P2, 16 laps total, 1:33.579
We had our normal Friday: systems checks in the morning, then
some runs to get a feel for the tyres and try and improve
the balance. The grip level was very low, as is quite usual
for a Friday. That makes the car a bit inconsistent to drive
but we will make some changes tonight and, as the circuit
grip improves tomorrow, I am sure things will come together.
The pace looks quite good but the times are very close, and
we need to do more running to get a clearer picture of who
our rivals will be.
Giancarlo Fisichella, P9, 21 laps total, 1:34.030
The low grip was the main difficulty with the car today, but
we still managed to make some good changes on the set-up:
some worked, some didn't, but we collected plenty of information
to analyse tonight. The consistency was good when I did a
longer run this afternoon, so we need to look at how to find
first lap performance tomorrow, and to improve the balance
of the car to feel completely confident. So far, though, it
doesn't look too bad.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
We were rather surprised at the poor grip levels we encountered
today, which were lower than expected. In spite of this though,
we completed some good tests and collected the data we need
to improve the car set-up overnight. The balance was as normal
in low grip conditions, that's to say unpredictable, but we
are clear on what we need to do to improve the situation tomorrow.
The Michelin tyres are working well, but we can see even from
the Friday times that there are a number of cars which are
very close in performance.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Trackside Engine Operations
The Nürburgring is a track we know well in this configuration,
but not one at which we test outside the race weekend. As
a result, our Friday programme was composed of the usual tuning
to adapt the engine to the circuit's demands, putting information
we learned last week during testing in Silverstone to good
use. Fernando is running the B specification evolution engine
for the first time this weekend, and it performed without
any problems today, just like Fisico's similar unit which
is on its second race weekend. Our positions at the end of
the day seem encouraging, but we will treat them with our
usual caution, given the numerous variables that make it difficult
to draw any firm conclusions from the Friday times.
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