2007 Bahraini GP, Sunday - 15 APR 2007
The ING Renault F1 Team endured a difficult afternoon at
the Bahrain International Circuit, placing its cars 8th and
9th in the 2007 Bahraini Grand Prix, with Giancarlo Fisichella
ahead of team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.
After qualifying 7th and 12th, the team knew it was unable
to compete with the top three teams on pure pace, and that
without retirements in front, 7th and 8th was the maximum
possible result this afternoon. After Heikki Kovalainen made
a strong, aggressive start to gain three positions, this seemed
an achievable target. However, both drivers struggled for
pace on their longest race stints (the first for Kovalainen,
the second for Fisichella) and although they defended their
positions as aggressively as possible, each lost ground that
they were unable to regain later in the race.
Giancarlo Fisichella's single point maintains his point-scoring
run during the start of the 2007 season, and means the ING
Renault F1 Team remains fourth in the Constructors' Championship,
with a total of nine points.
Giancarlo Fisichella, 8th position
This was another tough race for us. I made a good start and
the pace was really good in the first stint – I was
clearly lighter than Kubica in front, but he was holding me
up which meant I couldn't build a gap to the cars behind me.
Then I struggled in the second stint, as the rear tyres went
away very quickly and I lost a number of positions –
I was on the limit, but couldn't do any more to defend my
place. Then the performance came back again in the last stint
on the hard tyres, and I pushed Jarno as hard as I could –
but just ran out of laps to get past him. It's disappointing
not to achieve our maximum today, but ultimately, that maximum
was seventh position. It is one point lost, but we all know
that we want to be fighting for much more than that, and hopefully
we can make some progress between now and Barcelona in four
weeks.
Heikki Kovalainen, 9th position
I made a good start off the line, and overtook both Williams
and Trulli's Toyota. Last week, I was side by side with him
and he got the advantage – and I was determined that
it wouldn't happen again. After that, the rear tyres dropped
off quickly on the heavy fuel load and I was struggling everywhere
– Trulli got past me, then I tried to defend aggressively
against Rosberg, but he overtook as well after the final corner.
The car improved a lot in the second stint, and I could see
I was catching Fisi and Jarno, and thought that maybe we could
do something. But then in the final stint, the rear end was
tricky again, and I couldn't maintain the pace of the guys
in front. It was a tough afternoon, like we expected, and
it was a shame not to score points. We know, though, that
the hard work needs to be done back at the factory –
and I am confident that they will be pushing to their maximum
to improve our competitiveness for the next race.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director
This is where we are at the moment, fighting for the final
points positions. We didn't expect the situation to change
very much in the space of a week, and the race met those expectations.
Both drivers did a strong job, but the car doesn't have the
pace. There is a lot of hard work ahead of us to improve the
situation, beginning with the four-week break before the next
race.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
Once again, the team's overall performance was dictated by
the car's current level of performance. With three teams in
front of us that are clearly quicker, our race is for 7th
place at the moment. The drivers did as much as they could
today, and the mechanics once again worked hard to prepare
reliable cars for them to maintain our 100% finishing record.
In the race itself, both drivers seemed to struggle with tyre
performance on their longest stints, but this does not explain
our overall position. Our hard work will now continue back
at the factory to get on top of our problems – and start
moving forward.
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