Hungarian GP: Renault Friday notes

A day of mixed results for the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team after the first free practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Threatening weather forecasts led the Team to slightly modify their normal Friday programme, a choice which was reinforced by the twisty nature of the Hungaroring circuit, where the difficulty in overtaking places an even greater premium than usual on a strong qualifying performance. Both drivers feel there is still progress to be made in order to optimise the balance of the car, identifying a general lack of grip on the slippery circuit.

Jenson Button, 10th position, 35 laps

"To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed to finish tenth today. I thought we seemed pretty competitive this morning, but we didn't manage to keep that level of performance. The car lacks all-round grip - we didn't really find the right answers today, and need to work hard before tomorrow morning."

Jarno Trulli, 11th position, 34 laps

"It was a useful day which allowed us to learn a lot about the tyres and car set-up. We definitely need to work harder to improve the balance of the car before tomorrow morning. It's up to us to improve our level performance in order to get the best out of the package."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering, Mild Seven Renault F1 Team

"A reasonable day where we had one eye on the performance of the cars, and the other on the weather. This led us to alter our normal programme slightly and while we are not yet completely happy with the balance of the car, we nevertheless managed to collect some useful information for the race as well as a little of what might apply in qualifying."

Denis Chevrier, Head of Race Engineering (Engine), Mild Seven Renault F1 Team

"We completed our normal Friday preparations without any problems. Overall, I think we had a positive day, in that our work wasn't disrupted during two sessions which saw a significant number of cars leave the circuit for various reasons. Our positions leave us amongst the teams who will be our main competitors, and we now need to prepare to go looking for outright performance tomorrow morning."

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