Renault Portimao test notes 2009-01-20

ING Renault F1 Team continues testing in the Algarve

Nelson Piquet, R29-01, 9 laps, 42 km, fastest lap 1:45.860

Following the unveiling of the R29 yesterday morning, the ING Renault F1 Team remained at the Algarve Motor Park today to continue with its winter development programme.

The team's Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet remained in the cockpit of the R29, but endured a frustrating day with rain showers and hail storms hitting the circuit and disrupting the team's technical programme.

As such Nelson only completed a handful of laps as the team continued to check the systems on the car. With better conditions forecast for tomorrow the team looks forward to running the new car on a dry track when Fernando Alonso gets behind the wheel of the R29 for the first time.

Nelson Piquet: "It was another wet and windy day and so we were not able to do many laps. It's frustrating to lose so much track time, but this is something that can happen in winter testing. I've yet to drive the new car on a dry track and so it's difficult for me to really say how different it is to the R28, but the forecast looks better for tomorrow and hopefully we can learn more about the car then."

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: "It has been quite a frustrating day and the weather has made things very difficult. As it's a new car we don't want to risk it by doing lots of wet weather running and so we've done limited mileage today. The rain also makes it difficult to learn very much about the car, but all the teams here have the same problem and so in that sense we are all in the same position. We are hoping for a better forecast tomorrow so we can get on and do some proper running."

-credit: renault