2008 Australian Grand Prix, Practice
A mixed start to the Australian Grand Prix for the
ING Renault F1 Team
Fernando Alonso, R28-03
Nelson Piquet, R28-01
Free Practice 1: P6, 1:28.360, 22 laps
Free Practice 1: P18, 1:30.357, 21 laps
Free Practice 2: P13, 1:28.779, 37 laps
Free Practice 2: P19, 1:29.518, 14 laps
The ING Renault F1 Team had a mixed start to this weekend's
Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the 2008 season
held in Melbourne's Albert Park. Both Fernando Alonso and
Nelson Piquet completed some set-up work and tyre evaluation,
but a spin for Nelson towards the end of the opening session
left the team on the back foot and limited Nelson's running.
He was still able to complete 35 laps and learnt the layout
of the track. Fernando enjoyed a trouble-free day, covering
59 laps while improving the balance of the car, but a busy
track prevented him from showing the car's true potential
on new tyres. The team now turns its attention to Saturday's
qualifying session to secure the best grid positions for the
race.
Fernando Alonso
This first day has been very hot and very windy, but the conditions
were the same for everyone. For the first day of work we worked
on the set-up of the car and we made good progress, but we
still have to improve the stability of the car under braking
and its overall balance. So we must still find some performance,
but I am optimistic for the rest of the weekend.
Nelson Piquet
That was not how I imagined my first day of work would be,
and we would have liked to have made more progress. I made
a mistake in the first session which caused some damage to
my gearbox and meant the team had to do some work on my car
between the two sessions. But I was able to get my first feelings
for the track and I hope to make a bigger contribution tomorrow.
I know that I have a lot to learn, but I was able to get more
comfortable with each lap, and that is what I am going to
continue to do throughout the weekend.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
A difficult start to our season. Nelson spun in the first
session and our analysis showed there could be damage to the
gearbox, so we had to change that, which resulted in him being
out late for the second session. He was really on his back
foot from there onwards. With Fernando we covered a good number
of laps and completed a sensible programme. We made some improvements
on the balance, but as always there is more to do. We feel
there is a little bit more potential in the car as the two
runs on new tyres were spoilt by traffic. But overall it looks
like we are in with the big pack.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
If you look at both the sessions it seems that the four favourites
that emerged during the winter have confirmed their position
today. From our point of view, the day was somewhat disappointing
because we designed our programme to give Nelson the most
time on track possible, but in the end that did not turn out
to be the case, which is a shame on a circuit that is difficult
to learn and master. We will try to make the most of the last
practice session tomorrow to approach the qualifying session
in the best shape possible.
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