Bahrain GP: Renault Friday practice notes

The first day of the Grand Prix of Bahrain proved eventful for the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team, with the team's plans to learn about the circuit disrupted by several technical incidents. However, the team remains optimistic overall for the rest of the weekend. Jarno Trulli suffered a water leak during the first practice session, which limited his mileage, and his car then stopped on the circuit with a problem within the engine's fuel system, which will not require the unit to be changed. As for Fernando Alonso, he completed 33 laps, close to the planned objective. He concentrated on learning the new circuit and evaluating tyres, with the intention of building on this solid start to improve the set-up of the R24 tomorrow.

Jarno Trulli:

"It wasn't the best day ever, but I'm not too disappointed. We could certainly have done more mileage, but we nevertheless managed to improve the car during the day. Sure, it was a bit of bad luck to have an engine problem but fortunately, we don't think it is too serious - and it is better for that to happen today than on Sunday. The circuit itself is interesting: the track cleaned up well, and we hope it will continue improving over the weekend. It is not a particularly technical layout, but I think it will be pretty enjoyable for the drivers."

Fernando Alonso:

"It is always fun learning a new circuit, and as a driver, you enjoy finding the right lines and learning about the small details. It is not really a demanding circuit for the drivers, because the straights give you a bit of time to rest. However, if you go off line, you need at least half a lap to clean the tyres up again. Our objective for today wasn't to get a definitive set-up, but rather to do lots of running to learn about the track. We didn't make too many set-up changes because the circuit was changing a lot, and we should get a better idea of performance tomorrow."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering:

"We expected to have more questions than answers at the end of today, and indeed this is the case. Unfortunately, we lost Jarno's car very early in the second session, which hampered our ability to complete the programme. Even Fernando's day was far from trouble-free, because of a hydraulic problem which prevented him from completing as many laps as we had hoped. We had feared that tyre choice would be difficult at this circuit owing to the sand but, in the end, this will not really be the case."

Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations:

"The most important news at this point is the confirmation that we will not need to change Jarno's engine: a problem linked to the engine fuel system stopped the car on the circuit during the second session. Unfortunately, various incidents today prevented from completing the combined programme we had hoped for, but the signs are nonetheless encouraging. As for the conditions, we certainly encountered significant pollution from the sand, but the quantities are within the scope of our predictions."

Fernando Alonso
Chassis: R24-02
Session 1: P13, 1:34.810
Session 2: P9, 1:32.234

Jarno Trulli
Chassis: R24-03
Session 1: P12, 1:34.796
Session 2: P18, 1:33.437

-renault-