Valencia Testing, Day 4,
The ING Renault F1 Team concludes its first test
with the new car
Nelson Piquet Jr, R28-01, 89 laps, 352 km, best lap: 1'12:973
The ING Renault F1 Team completed its final day of work in
Valencia today. The team was again running the new car, the
R28, as preparations continue ahead of the new season.
Nelson Piquet Jr. was at the wheel of the R28-01, taking
over driving duties from Fernando Alonso. It was the first
time the young Brazilian had driven the new car, and so he
spent the morning familiarising himself with the R28 and putting
some more miles on the car.
Sunny conditions remained for the afternoon, allowing the
team to continue with its development of the car. It was a
chance to concentrate on improving the balance and to continue
with the set-up programme that Fernando had started earlier
in the week. It was another productive day with good reliability,
and the team achieved its objectives. Nelson was happy to
be back in the car and found the results of his first day
in the R28 encouraging. He covered a total of 89 laps, with
a best time of 1'12:973.
Next week both drivers will be in Paris where the R28 will
be officially unveiled to the media on 31 January. It will
then be on to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, as the
team resumes its winter testing programme from 1-3 February.
The team will be running a two car programme with both Fernando
Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr. in attendance.
Nelson Piquet Jr: "I think it was a
good day and it was important for me to get back in the car.
I have not raced in Formula 1 yet, so it's always beneficial
to have time in the car. A new car always needs lots of set-up
work and we continued with that today, trying different approaches
to improve the balance of the car. I think there is a lot
of promise and I'm looking forward to continuing working with
the team next week in Barcelona."
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: "It
was Nelson's first day in the new car and everything went
to plan. We started off with some acclimatisation work for
Nelson before continuing with the set-up programme that we
had begun with Fernando. The track conditions were good again
this afternoon so we did some more long runs with the car."
DRIVER - TEAM - BEST LAPS
1 RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1'11:189 88
2 KOVALAINEN McLaren 1'11:206 89
3 MASSA Ferrari 1'11:381 96
4 NAKAJIMA Williams 1'11:971 116
5 HAMILTON McLaren 1'11:994 84
6 KUBICA BMW 1'12:095 86
7 TRULLI Toyota 1'12:109 96
8 VETTEL Toro Rosso 1'12:526 113
9 HEIDFELD BMW 1'12:600 39
10 GLOCK Toyota 1'12:705 68
11 FISICHELLA Force India 1'12:949 93
12 PIQUET ING Renault F1 Team 1'12:973 89
13 BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1'13:060 95
14 WEBBER Red Bull Racing 1'13:133 15
15 HULKENBERG Williams 1'13:306 74
16 BUTTON Honda 1'13:689 80
17 KOGURE Honda 1'15:703 25
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