Barcelona Testing, Day 1
The Renault F1 Team begins winter testing in Barcelona.
The Renault F1 Team today began a three-day test session
in Barcelona with Heikki Kovalainen and Nelson Piquet Jr.
at the wheel of the R26.
This sessions marks the Renault F1 Team's debut using Bridgestone
tyres, and the objectives for the week are to learn as much
as possible about the tyres and to give the drivers the opportunity
to adapt their driving to them. The latest testing agreement
also provides for a reduction in the number of tyres used
by the teams during testing, to avoid the need for Bridgestone
to manufacture and transport excessive quantities of tyres.
Both drivers therefore had access to three sets of tyres each
for their running today.
This first test since the team's double championship victory
will also be used to complete reliability running on new components
to be used in 2007.
Heikki Kovalainen began preparations for his Grand Prix debut
next March in Melbourne in diligent fashion. He completed
a substantial 91-lap programme without any problems, setting
a fastest lap of 1:19.188.
As for Nelson Piquet Jr., he continued to learn about the
team and the car while running the first laps with the new
2007 gearbox in a ‘hybrid' R26 chassis. He finished
the day 9th fastest with a best time of 1:18.848.
Heikki Kovalainen
"We had a very interesting first day at Barcelona running
the Bridgestone tyres, and I think we collected a lot of important
data. The tyres are very different to those I have used so
far in Formula 1: there is less grip overall*, and we need
to be a bit more careful in how we drive as well as adapting
our style. But I am already confident I can adapt to them
quickly, and that the team will have no problems understanding
how to get the best from them."
Nelson Piquet Jr
"This was my first day of F1 testing at Barcelona, and
I completed my programme without any problems and did a lot
of laps. I am quite pleased with this first day because my
aim was simply to run as much as possible to continue learning
about the car."
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer
"This was a good first day back at work for the team
and the drivers. We primarily focused on learning about the
new Bridgestone tyres, going about the work in our usual methodical
way without worrying about topping the timesheets. It is always
important to learn and understand how we need to work with
a new partner. We began that process today at the track, and
will continue to develop our partnership throughout this week
of testing."
* The 2007-specification tyres were expected to provide less
grip than those used during the 2006 season, as they are generally
made of harder compounds, as well as providing a wider operating
window than the 2006 products to enable every team to extract
maximum performance from the tyres.
DRIVER TEAM BEST LAPS
1 MASSA Ferrari 1'17.167 50
2 DE LA ROSA McLaren 1'17.462 67
3 BADOER Ferrari 1'17.561 71
4 HEIDFELD BMW 1'17.650 63
5 BARRICHELLO Honda 1'17.931 76
6 HAMILTON McLaren 1'18.245 57
7 KUBICA BMW 1'18.524 45
8 ROSSITER Honda 1'18.682 86
9 PIQUET Renault 1'18.848 93
10 WURZ Williams 1'19.042 91
11 DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1'19.109 91
12 KOVALAINEN Renault 1'19.188 91
13 SPEED Toro Rosso 1'19.384 61
14 WEBBER Red Bull 1'19.444 78
15 LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1'19.604 71
16 COULTHARD Red Bull 1'19.777 27
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