Formula One news

Renault happy with high-fuel progress

Making full use of the available three hours of running on a Friday, both drivers completed nearly 300 km as they worked through busy programmes of comparison between the hard and soft tyres, and set-up changes. Although the final positions appear poor, the feeling within the team was encouraging as both drivers felt the car to be more consistent than last week in Sepang. The challenge now will be to consistently reproduce these positive handling characteristics through the rest of the weekend.

"My long run in the second session was very consistent and the feeling with the car was good," said Fisichella. "And then, on my quick lap at the end, I ran wide, so I know there is more performance to come over a single lap. The car felt more consistent to drive, but it felt good on Friday last week as well - then we struggled in qualifying. So our challenge will be to produce a good level of performance tomorrow. It will still be a very close fight to get into the top ten, but I think we had a good day today, and hopefully that can help us to a better result tomorrow."

Heikki Kovalainen commented, "The final positions look worse than they did last week, but I think that the feeling about our competitiveness is much better. The car is better to drive than last week, and the changes we made definitely took us in the right direction during the two practice sessions. I am feeling more comfortable as well, so all in all I am quite happy. Tomorrow will be tough, but that is the situation we are in at the moment, and we will be fighting hard to get into the final round of qualifying."

Engineering chief Pat Symonds added, "Although we were disappointed not to make it into the final round of qualifying last weekend, we nevertheless felt it was the correct decision to continue working on the car while running high fuel loads. This appears to have been vindicated today, as we made some reasonable improvements to the car during the two practice sessions. The times for the entire field show that the grip levels are much lower than they were during the final pre-season tests, but the relative competitiveness of our long runs was quite encouraging. Overall, we can be reasonably satisfied with our day."

more news

• 27 Nov.
  • GPUpdate TV: Domenicali - high hopes for 2010
  • Jerez test: The cast
  • Wurz plays down USF1 link
  • Renault to test Baguette, Tung and Di Grassi
  • Alonso makes second visit to Ferrari
  • Force India confirms Sutil and Liuzzi
  • All new teams now FOTA members
  • Sauber buys team back from BMW
  • De la Rosa pushing for race drive
  • Ecclestone: I won't buy Donington
  • Haug becomes part of F1 in Schools
  • Volkswagen to provide F1 engines?
• 26 Nov.
  • Alguersuari: 2010 contract is signed
  • Conway and Ericsson to test for Mercedes
  • 4 driver options left for Lotus
  • 'F1 in need of Schumacher return' - Verstappen
• 25 Nov.
  • 'Fantastic opportunity' - Di Resta on Force India test
  • Recap: N.Technology court bid fails
  • BMW testers excited about Jerez
  • Brawn disappointed with Button drives, ponders Lauda
  • Piquet to drive in Massa kart race
  • Brawn aero chief wins award
  • Gillett disappointed with government position
  • Mercedes hopes to confirm line-up by Christmas
• 24 Nov.
  • Briatore verdict expected in January
  • Donington still hopeful over F1 race
  • Montreal race confirmation imminent
  • Massa names drivers for karting event
  • Campos car passes FIA safety tests
  • Strong test could seal drive, says Mallya
  • Force India to test di Resta and Hildebrand
  • Courts to hear Briatore case
  • Silverstone GP deal forthcoming
• 23 Nov.
  • GPUpdate TV: Sam Michael - building on 2009
  • Theissen waiting on entry decision
  • Mercedes delighted with Rosberg confirmation
  • Confirmed: Rosberg to Mercedes for 2010
  • Manor hoping to run in late January
  • Mercedes poised to announce first driver
  • Kobayashi: I expected to be re-signed

Homepage