Renault prepares for Brazil

On the morning after the excellent result in Malaysia, the Renault F1 Team is already hard at work preparing for the next race of the season in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The Malaysian Grand Prix marked the end of the first chapter of the 2003 season. Many of the team members stayed out on the other side of the world after Melbourne in order to simplify logistics; this included the drivers, who chose to take some time in the sun before heading for Sepang. Yesterday evening, the majority of the 90 travelling members of the Renault F1 Team packed their bags and headed out from Kuala Lumpur airport; the remainder will leave for Europe tonight. By Tuesday morning, everybody will be back home in either Viry-Châtillon or Enstone.

The R23 chassis will head directly for Sao Paulo. The engines used this weekend will return to Viry-Châtillon, with fresh units being sent out to Brazil. In effect, the next race begins tomorrow for the Renault F1 Team.

"The car's performance met our expectations," admits Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering. "Having said that, Formula 1 never stops. The programmes for fine-tuning our cars to the demands of Interlagos have already begun. During our two hours of testing on Friday morning at Sepang, we in fact tested some tyre compounds with a view to the next race. We will be able to count on the chassis's strengths on the bumpy circuit at Sao Paulo, as well as on the extremely successful integration of the RS23 engine in the chassis."

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