2007 French Grand Prix,
The ING Renault F1 Team today completed two busy practice
sessions for this weekend's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.
Giancarlo Fisichella (R27-02, T-car)
Free Practice 1: P18, 1:17.226, 20 laps
Free Practice 2: P11, 1:16.205, 43 laps
Fastest Lap on Hard Tyre: 1:16.604
Fastest Lap on Soft Tyre: 1:16.205
Heikki Kovalainen(R27-03)
Free Practice 1: P19, 1:17.348, 21 laps
Free Practice 2: P17, 1:16.735, 40 laps
Fastest Lap on Hard Tyre: 1:17.017
Fastest Lap on Soft Tyre: 1:16.735
Both drivers worked through their technical programmes,
evaluating and comparing the two types of Bridgestone Potenza
tyres and making set-up adjustments to improve the handling
balance of the R27. Although the final timesheets saw the
Renault drivers in the second half of the field, good progress
was made on each car, which will be consolidated overnight
and tomorrow morning. Furthermore, both drivers completed
over 60 trouble-free laps. The basic handling of the R27 was
consistent and predictable, in spite of conditions that saw
many drivers spin or run off track. As always at Magny-Cours,
where the short lap takes under eighty seconds to complete,
the times were extremely close – with just one second
covering third to seventeenth positions at the end of the
second practice session. Only tomorrow, when all teams begin
their qualifying preparations, will the true picture of competitiveness
become clear.
Giancarlo Fisichella
I had a pretty good day. We did lots of laps and completed
the programme, which is always the first objective. The changes
we made to the set-up were good, and I felt really comfortable
out on track. The times and handling balance were quite consistent
on the long runs, which is an important factor for the race,
and I don't think the position will look too bad once we have
completed our analysis. There's still more progress to come
from our work overnight, but I think we have a good starting
point to work from.
Heikki Kovalainen
The car balance isn't quite where I want it to be at the moment,
and that was costing me time today – especially as I
also had some traffic on my last timed laps on new tyres.
But that is something we can tune overnight, to be honest.
The important thing was to do the programme, make some good
set-up changes, and give ourselves a platform for tomorrow.
I think we managed that successfully, and we know the direction
we need to go overnight. There is still work to be done, and
some time to be found in the car, but I think we will look
better tomorrow, than the timesheets suggest right now.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
Magny-Cours is a circuit that changes a lot according to the
prevailing conditions, and the resurfacing that has been conducted
for this year made it all the more important to do a proper
tyre comparison and evaluation today. This was completed successfully
by both drivers, but the handling balance when they both ran
a new set of tyres at the end of the session was not as good
as we would have liked. However, this is not a fundamental
problem, and I am sure some overnight tuning will cure it.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
As always on a circuit which we know well, our Friday running
was spent checking and tuning the engine characteristics for
this circuit. We did so without any problems, which is always
reassuring, and both engines were performing well. The timesheets
don't look particularly impressive, but we know that Friday
is never a day for drawing conclusions about the car's performance.
The times are very close, and the tiniest variations in fuel
load can make a big difference when one second covers fourteen
cars. So our focus was on completing our work, getting good
answers from our tests, and we did so successfully. Assessing
our relative performance will begin tomorrow morning, when
we and our rival begin preparing for qualifying.
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