British GP: Renault race notes

The capricious British weather transformed the British Grand Prix into an incident-filled spectacle today at Silverstone. At the end of the first lap, the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team drivers held the sixth and seventh positions, with Jenson Button making a stunning getaway from twelfth on the grid. After stopping to change onto wet tyres, Trulli was running third, with his teammate in sixth. Subsequently, a lack of competitiveness in the drying conditions hampered the team, provoking three additional pitstops according to the changing weather. Jarno Trulli retired at half distance with electronic problems. After noticing a problem with the left front wheel, Jenson Button pulled into the pits and retired at the end of his 55th lap.

Jenson Button

"I was pretty happy at the end of the first lap, making up four places at the start! Everything was working well at that point, even though I was struggling a little with understeer in the dry - we didn't quite get on top of the problem all weekend. At the first stop, I had to wait for Jarno to finish, which obviously cost me time. Afterwards, the car wasn't too bad in the wet, but the Bridgestones were simply flying. It then got harder and harder as the track began to dry. At the end, I noticed that the front left wheel was starting to move about. I must thank the team for their reactiveness at the stops - they had to work hard today! It's obviously not the result I had hoped for at Silverstone, but at least it was exciting for the crowd!"

Jarno Trulli

"It was a tough race! As the lights went out, I made a good start, but was blocked by the McLarens and couldn't make up any positions. I then changed to wets but from then on, the electronic problems started: the car lacked traction, and the gearbox started downshifting on its own. I was losing so much time that all I could do was retire. It's a shame, because I was third after my first stop, even if we were less competitive in the changing conditions."

Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director, Mild Seven Renault F1 Team

"Obviously a very difficult race for us. In the dry, the car was competitive and we made the right decision on strategy - the fact that Jarno was running third after his first stop shows as much. As soon as the track started drying out, we were losing so much performance that we had to switch to dry tyres. The gamble didn't pay off, which meant we had to make two more stops in line with the changing weather. As for the retirements, Jarno suffered electronic problems, and after Jenson stopped with the problem on the left front wheel, we decided to retire him as there was little point continuing given his position."

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