ING Renault F1 Team continues testing at Monza
Day 2
Heikki Kovalainen, R27-06, 76 laps, 438 km, best lap: 1'24.093
ING Renault F1 Team today continued its development work
at the famous Monza circuit, conducting further preparations
for the forthcoming Italian Grand Prix. Monza requires the
teams to develop a specific aerodynamic package, used only
for this race, which demands very low levels of drag and downforce
to be competitive on the long straights. This week's test
is therefore important in order to validate these components,
and conduct set-up work with the car in this unusual configuration.
After completing the first day of this week's test running
chassis R27-01 fitted with the 2008-specification standard
ECU, the team's first full track test with this new component,
the ING Renault F1 Team reverted to a more traditional programme
for day two of the test.
At the wheel of chassis R27-06 in standard 2007 configuration,
the Finn focused on set-up work while using the low downforce
aero package. The team focused on finding a driveable baseline
balance, and on comparisons between the two types of Bridgestone
Potenza tyre that will be available at this race, the soft
and medium compounds from the 2007 range.
Heikki completed the programme without any delays, completing
a total of 76 laps and 438 km, which will provide a solid
basis when he begins working in free practice next Friday.
His best lap of the day was 1'24.093, which put him P6 on
the final timesheets.
Heikki Kovalainen: "We had a good day,
and the car got better with every run. We worked hard so that
by the end of the day, the R27 was well-balanced. I think
this will be a good baseline to work from on Friday at the
Grand Prix, and at that time, we will focus on fine-tuning
the set-up to extract the final tenths of a second for the
race. The team did a good job today, and we made encouraging
progress."
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: "We were
lucky with the conditions today, because we had been expecting
rain. Heikki enjoyed a productive day of testing, made good
progress with the programme and did some useful race preparation
for next week. It was a positive day for us."
DRIVER - TEAM - BEST LAPS
1 ALONSO McLaren 1'23.155 49
2 HAMILTON McLaren 1'23.454 49
3 HEIDFELD BMW 1'23.725 84
4 TRULLI Toyota 1'23.759 60
5 RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1'23.773 59
6 KOVALAINEN ING Renault F1 Team 1'24.093 76
7 VETTEL Toro Rosso 1'24.266 101
8 WURZ Williams 1'24.356 71
9 KLIEN Honda 1'24.595 92
10 WEBBER Red Bull Racing 1'24.701 83
11 SATO Super Aguri 1'24.976 80
12 SUTIL Spyker 1'25.278 76
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