San Marino GP: Renault Friday practice notes

A trouble-free first day for the Renault team; promising level of performance for what's to come, but work still to do on fine-tuning the car.

Following the opening day of the San Marino Grand Prix, the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team is in an optimistic frame of mind. The team's drivers finished the day fifth (Trulli) and eighth (Alonso) respectively in the midst of a very closely-matched group at the front of the field. There's still work to be done, but the first signs from today's running are encouraging.

Jarno Trulli:

"A trouble-free day for me, and quite a positive one too. The start this morning was difficult, because the circuit was very green and the car was sliding a lot, but we made progress with the set-up and things improved. The B-spec engine is very good, and the new aero package is definitely doing its job. For tomorrow, we will try and improve the car's overall level of grip and also the driveability: to get 100% out of it, we need to make it a bit easier to drive. We know what our main tasks will be tomorrow."

Fernando Alonso:

"A standard Friday: we concentrated on choosing our tyres, and did the normal comparisons between the two types, which gave us some good results. In terms of the set-up, we still have some room to improve, as we are lacking grip and stability under braking. Taking that into account, I think we are in good shape for the rest of the weekend."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering:

"Conditions were quite tricky at the start of the day, as the cars had a lot of oversteer and the grip levels were seemingly very low. We worked on the balance of the cars to correct this, but it is probably true that the circuit also improved as well. While we know there is still more to do to improve the car, the directions are established. The tyre comparisons seemed good today, and the choice in these conditions is clear."

Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations:

"A traditional opening day, but which was spiced up by the introduction of several new parts on our car, as well as those of our competitors. We completed our programme without any problems, and the B-spec engine functioned correctly. The drivers are still giving good feedback about the engine, and we now have to work on fine-tuning the performance in order to compete well in a very tightly-packed field."

Jarno Trulli
Chassis: R24-03
Practice session 1: 7th, 1:22.927
Practice session 2: 5th, 1:21.604

Fernando Alonso
Chassis: R24-02
Practice session 1: 9th, 1:23.083
Practice session 2: 8th, 1:21.788

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