2008 British Grand Prix, Sunday - 6 JUL 2008
It was a British Grand Prix of mixed fortunes for the ING
Renault F1 Team as Fernando Alonso finished in sixth, while
team-mate Nelson Piquet retired from the race.
Conditions at Silverstone were wet throughout the day with
frequent rain showers hitting the Northamptonshire circuit.
Both Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet started the race on
wet weather tyres and ran strongly towards the front in the
opening stint of the race.
At the first round of pit stops, Fernando opted to keep his
wet weather tyres on lap 20, while Nelson took a new set of
wet weather tyres a couple of laps later. Ultimately the latter
decision proved more fruitful because Fernando lost pace on
his older tyres and pitted for a fresh set of wets on lap
26.
A heavy rain shower a few laps later caused confusion with
spins all the way down the field. It was this that saw Nelson
aquaplane off the circuit at Abbey. Fernando survived the
shower, but as the race unfolded his pace became less competitive
and he slipped to sixth at the flag, securing three points
for the team.
The team's attention now turns to the German Grand Prix and
the test that will take place in Hockenheim next week.
Fernando Alonso P6
"I had said that when it rains, anything can happen,
which was the case today as we had a difficult race with a
very wet circuit. I used up my tyres very quickly and I finished
the race virtually with slicks, which meant I lost a lot of
time in certain parts of the track. We could have probably
had a better result today, but in the end I scored three points,
which is important for the championship."
Nelson Piquet DNF
"I'm obviously extremely disappointed with today's retirement.
The car was very good, our strategy was perfect, and we were
on course for a very good result. However, when the rain came
down very heavily, the track was completely flooded. It wasn't
just in the turns that the car was out of control, it was
even on the straights. It was impossible to control. We have
to take positives in that the car was good and we showed how
competitive we could be, so we have to take that to Hockenheim
now."
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director ING Renault F1
Team
"Once again it was a race the looked promising, but we
were not able to make the most of our chances. The first part
of the race showed that Fernando and Nelson were very competitive
and we must make sure that we build upon this potential in
the second part of the season."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
"Our pace at the start of the race seemed reasonable,
but it was obviously a mistake to leave the tyres on Fernando's
car at the first stop. Later in the race we were clearly uncompetitive
and we need to find the reason why."
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