2007 Italian Grand Prix, Friday - 7 SEP 2007
The ING Renault F1 Team conducted a busy opening day of practice
for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Giancarlo Fisichella (R27-02, T-car)
Free Practice 1: 1:23.671, 22 laps, P7
Free Practice 2: 1:23.584, 38 laps, P3
Heikki Kovalainen(R27-03)
Free Practice 1: 1:24.076, 21 laps, P11
Free Practice 2: 1:23.848, 32 laps, P9
Although the team tested here for three days last week,
rain on the final day meant the technical programme was busier
than usual for a Friday. Furthermore, Monza is one of the
most demanding circuits for the V8 engines, and all teams
therefore sought to take advantage of the unrestricted engine
mileage during Friday's two practice sessions in order to
complete as much work as possible. Although the team has set
encouraging times on this opening day, the field seems even
more closely matched than usual, and only tomorrow will the
true competitive picture become clear.
Giancarlo Fisichella
Today went a bit better than normal, and I am more optimistic
than at the last few races. We worked through the programme
without any problems, we made good progress with the set-up
of the car and by the end of the day, the balance was not
too bad. Qualifying will be tough, especially because the
times seem even closer than usual here at Monza. But it was
a good first day and a positive start to the weekend.
Heikki Kovalainen
I had quite a tricky day. I flat spotted the tyres on the
first lap this morning, which delayed the programme a bit,
and I didn't find the same good balance that I had at the
test last week. So the car isn't feeling too good at the moment,
but we are working to improve the situation. However, reliability
was good and we compared the tyres, which is the main objective
on Friday. Now we need to work on the set-up overnight, and
look carefully where we can make improvements. I know I can
do a good job with the engineers, so I am confident things
will be better tomorrow.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
The rain we encountered during testing last week left us with
a little more work to do today, and the good conditions, coupled
with perfect reliability, allowed us to get through what we
needed to do. Heikki's day was slightly compromised when he
flat-spotted his front tyres at the start of first practice,
but we adapted the programme to suit, and we found some good
set-up directions for tomorrow with both cars.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
Although we tested here just a week ago, Friday was a busier
than usual day for all the teams. Our technical programmes
focused on more detailed fine-tuning than usual, but there
is a genuine incentive to run as much as possible today. With
unlimited engine mileage on a Friday, and given the fact that
Monza is among the most demanding circuits of all for the
V8, it is only logical that all the teams tried to work through
as much of their technical programme as possible, especially
given the good conditions. We managed to do so without any
incidents, and we will be aiming to maintain our strong reliability
throughout the rest of the weekend.
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