Second day of testing in Valencia for the ING Renault F1
Team
Giancarlo Fisichella, R27-02, 40 laps, 158 km, best lap:
1:12.731
Heikki Kovalainen, R27-01, 45 laps, 178 km, best lap: 1:12.769
The ING Renault F1 Team today continued testing in Valencia,
in spite of unpredictable conditions that once again forced
the team to adapt its technical programme.
Following an installation lap when the circuit opened, the
two Renaults then waited for the circuit to improve before
beginning their programme. A sunny spell around 13:00 meant
the track was finally good enough for meaningful running.
Both drivers began long runs at this time in order to assess
the handling of the R27 on the ‘green' track, and to
collect as much data as possible. With start simulations and
refuelling in the pit-lane, the goal was once again to cover
a race distance with each car.
However, a mechanical failure on Fisichella's car during
the afternoon forced the Roman to cut short his running. And
when it began to rain again during the afternoon, the team
decided to save Kovalainen's programme for tomorrow in the
expectation of improved conditions.
The day's work was therefore rather disrupted, but the team
was nevertheless pleased with the car's performance, with
the team's drivers finishing 2nd and 3rd on the timesheets.
The team will continue testing with the race drivers over
the next two days.
Giancarlo Fisichella: "The weather
dictated our running once again today. We waited for a long
time, which ate into our programme, but these things happens.
I had a mechanical problem but I'm not worried – the
team is working to find out what happened, and it is always
better to have these problems in testing… We will carry
on with the programme tomorrow, hopefully with some better
weather!"
Heikki Kovalainen: "The track conditions
today were changing all the time, and quite tricky, but we
still made some progress with our work. We need to carry on
in the same direction tomorrow, and hopefully we can do more
laps. The performance of the car seems OK, but we want to
put more miles on it – and we need better weather to
do so!"
DRIVER TEAM BEST LAPS
1 ALONSO McLaren 1'12.558 90
2 FISICHELLA Renault 1'12.731 40
3 KOVALAINEN Renault 1'12.769 45
4 RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1'12.869 52
5 HEIDFELD BMW 1'13.006 51
6 TRULLI Toyota 1'13.296 47
7 KUBICA BMW 1'13.306 42
8 MASSA Ferrari 1'13.559 82
9 BARRICHELLO Honda 1'13.658 73
10 ROSSITER Honda 1'13.733 28
11 SCHUMACHER Toyota 1'13.843 31
12 DE LA ROSA McLaren 1'14.277 40
13 NAKAJIMA Williams 1'14.406 118
14 SATO Super Aguri 1'14.823 37
15 COULTHARD Red Bull Racing 1'15.948 27
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