Formula One news
Trouble free day for Renault
15 June 2007 / Results / PhotosThe ING Renault F1 Team enjoyed a solid opening day of practice for the 2007 United States GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The circuit was quite dirty during the morning session, which led the team to limit its mileage and only use a single set of hard tyres on each car as the drivers and engineers began tuning the set-up of the R27 during the first ninety minutes of practice.
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This afternoon, though, the drivers were able to conduct a major programme of set-up improvements and tyre comparisons, steadily improving the car's handling and posting consistent, competitive lap-times on the longer runs. There is still work to be done overnight to fine-tune the handling balance of the car, which is currently tending towards understeer for both drivers, and the team will look to build on this solid platform through the rest of the weekend.
Heikki Kovalainen commented: "After the problems last week in Canada, this was just the kind of day I wanted: no technical problems, and lots of laps on the board. We got a lot done, and improved the car with every run. There is still a little way to go in order to dial out some of the understeer we are suffering from, but we will work hard overnight to find some more performance. It was important to have a trouble-free day because this is another new track for me. I found a good rhythm pretty quickly and I have to say that I think it's a fun circuit to drive. I have heard some people complaining that it is not challenging enough, but I don't agree."
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Giancarlo Fisichella said: "I must admit that I came out of the session a little bit confused. You always expect to find more grip when you run the softer tyre, but I didn't feel a big step in performance today, and we will have to work this evening to understand why. The car had quite a lot of understeer this morning, and we have worked to get rid of it step by step. There are still some improvements to be made, but we are getting there. I had a very positive feeling last week in Montreal, and it is not the same here today. The times make the situation look worse than it is, because I was held up on my quickest lap, but I think it is going to be a tougher race in terms of competitiveness than last weekend."
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