Formula One news

Heikki gets Renault off to strong start

In spite of the difficult conditions - tyre graining in the morning and light rain in the second session - the Renault drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella successfully completed their tyre comparisons, and managed to find a good base-line race set-up for the R27. They completed a total of 112 laps during the day, and will now look to improve the set-up overnight ahead of tomorrow's final practice session, which, as normal, will be dedicated to fine-tuning qualifying performance.

Kovalainen got on better than Fisichella with the new tyre compounds from Bridgestone - super-soft and soft - to finish an impressive second fastest in the afternoon's session, whilst his Italian team-mate was eighth quickest.

Heikki Kovalainen said: "We ran a slightly unusual programme today, and it seemed to work well for us. I felt confident and comfortable in the car straight away, and the balance was quite neutral through both sessions. I got good quick laps on both types of tyre, and we understand the differences in their behaviour. I think that compared to recent races, this was a much better start to the weekend, and we are on the right track with the set-up. Now we need to improve the car a little bit overnight, and stay focused on producing a good performance on Sunday."

Giancarlo Fisichella commented: "The day got off to quite a difficult start for me, and we had to change quite a lot on the set-up to get a good balance. I still wasn't happy with the car during the short runs at the start of second practice, so I couldn't get the maximum from the tyres, but we made some more changes after that and it really improved the handling. There is work to do overnight, but we have moved in the right direction today, and hopefully that will continue tomorrow morning."

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