Formula 1
French GP: Renault Friday practice notes
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team completed a successful opening day of their home race weekend during the first free practice sessions in Magny-Cours. Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella completed tyre evaluation programmes during both sessions, ...
Published: Jul 2, 2005, 1:58 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team completed a successful opening day of their home race weekend during the first free practice sessions in Magny-Cours. Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella completed tyre evaluation programmes during both sessions, conducting performance and endurance running to enable the team to select the best tyre type for the rest of the weekend.
Fernando's running was cut short by a cracked exhaust pipe in the second session, but overall the results of the day were encouraging, with both drivers finishing near the top of the timesheets.
Fernando Alonso:
"We had a good balance on the car right from the start of the day, and we didn't change the set-up at all. That's always a good way to start on Friday, because it means you can use your laps to test the tyres properly and work on other things. The biggest problem today was the wind, which made the handling quite unpredictable in the high-speed chicanes, and the car was not consistent lap to lap because of this. But overall, I think we look quite strong at the moment."
Giancarlo Fisichella:
"It was a good day for us -- we are very pleased with our positions after second practice. I think we are in good shape for the weekend and even though we don't know our tyre choice yet, I think we can be optimistic regardless of which tyre we choose. I had some high-speed understeer in the car which we need to work on overnight but we are in a good position."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering:
"We had a very normal Friday session, with a good balance on the cars from the word go and just some fine-tuning to complete tomorrow. The day was relatively trouble-free, although Fernando had to cut his run short this afternoon because of a cracked exhaust. The tyre test was slightly compromised by traffic, but we will be able to pick out the relevant data overnight. All in all, it was a standard Friday, and we encountered no problems that might worry us for the race."
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations:
"Like our competitors, we completed a substantial number of laps today in order to get the best possible baseline for our race performance. We encountered no significant problems, and will work overnight on tuning the performance of a number of new peripheral parts that we have introduced since Indianapolis. On the technical front, today provided a substantial amount of information for the rest of the weekend; on the sporting side, I believe it showed we have the potential to be very competitive this weekend."
Fernando Alonso
Chassis: R25-04
33 laps in total
4th, 1:15.242
Giancarlo Fisichella
Chassis: R25-06
38 laps in total
55, 1:15.380
-renault-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article No tyre worries for Michelin drivers
Next article French GP McLaren Friday practice notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Fernando Alonso
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brazilian GP
16 h
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
More from
Renault F1 Team
“I went back to the car and cried” – Esteban Ocon opens up about his unexpected year on F1 sidelines
Formula 1
Formula 1
“I went back to the car and cried” – Esteban Ocon opens up about his unexpected year on F1 sidelines
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
Formula 1
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
On this day: Michael Schumacher’s final unsportsmanlike manoeuvre
Formula 1
Formula 1
Monaco GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher’s final unsportsmanlike manoeuvre
Latest news
MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
17 min
MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice
Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
7 h
Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”
Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
8 h
Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP
How to watch NASCAR at Talladega II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
8 h
How to watch NASCAR at Talladega II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe