2007 Brazilian GP, Friday - 19 OCT 2007
A promising opening day at Interlagos for the ING Renault
F1 Team.
Giancarlo Fisichella (R27-02 in morning, R27-05 T-car in
afternoon)
HeikkiKovalainen (R27-03)
Free Practice 1: No time, 2 laps
Free Practice 1: 1:20.829, 19 laps
Free Practice 2: 1:13.549, 22 laps
Free Practice 2: 1:13.879, 28 laps
The ING Renault F1 Team enjoyed a promising opening day
of the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend at Interlagos, in
spite of mixed running conditions which saw the first session
run in wet weather, and the second on a drying circuit. Giancarlo
completed only limited running during the wet session in the
morning, as the team worked to resolve a potential hydraulic
problem on his race chassis. This meant the Italian completed
just two installation laps as the team located and resolved
the problem. He then switched to the T-car for the afternoon
session, as per the original running plan (NB: the drivers
use the T-car for Friday running at alternate race weekends),
and set a competitive fifth-fastest time. Heikki finished
the morning session in third place, and then worked through
a solid programme during the afternoon. In a very competitive
field, he finished the day in P12, but was only three tenths
off his team-mate's best time. Overall, the R27 seems to be
performing competitively in all conditions, and both drivers
were pleased with the handling balance. They will now work
to further improve the performance ahead of qualifying tomorrow.
Giancarlo Fisichella, P5
I think we are in good shape after our first day of work here.
The circuit was improving all the time this afternoon, but
we made good progress with the set-up as well, and I think
we were quite competitive. They have done a fantastic job
with the resurfacing work, and the circuit is much better
to drive now. The grip level was a bit low in the wet, but
this afternoon it felt very good. Now we need to work hard
overnight so we can build from this promising start to the
weekend.
Heikki Kovalainen, P12
We got a lot done today in spite of the tricky conditions,
and the basic balance of the car seems good. I need to find
a little more pace from the car but I think we have some good
directions for our work this evening, so we can do it. I learned
the circuit quickly and I must say that I am really enjoying
driving it, it is a fun track with a good mix of corners and
gradient. I am looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.
Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
With a wet track this morning, and a slowly drying circuit
in the afternoon, we had to adapt our running programme to
suit the conditions today. The main thing was to get both
drivers comfortable with the soft and super-soft tyres we
are using this weekend, which we managed to do without any
problems. Given the wet weather this morning, we decided to
use the session to resolve a small problem with Giancarlo's
race chassis, to avoid any disruption to our qualifying preparation
tomorrow morning. We did so successfully, and he then did
a very good job to run so competitively this afternoon. Heikki
learned the track quickly, and ran strongly in both wet and
dry conditions. The car seems to be performing well here,
and we have made a promising start to the weekend.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
As is normal in Interlagos, with such a short lap-time, the
field is very closely spaced and the competition in qualifying
will be particularly intense. On the engine side, we could
not learn much in the wet this morning, and that meant we
had a busy afternoon as we tried to complete our normal preparatory
work in the space of a single session. The engines performed
well, the cars' speeds are competitive, and we had no technical
issues at all. More than ever this weekend, it will be important
to get every little detail right in our preparation, and we
have made a good start on that today.
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