Formula One news
Disappoint result for Renault at Spa
16 September 2007 / Results / PhotosThe ING Renault F1 Team endured a disappointing afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps during the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix. Although Heikki Kovalainen drove a strong race and made up one position relative to his starting slot, the team was left with the feeling of a missed opportunity.
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The Finn's one-stop strategy meant he was running heavier fuel loads than his rivals for much of the race, and he was unable to take the fight to the cars ahead of him, instead spending much of the race aggressively defending his position, notably against Kubica in the final ten laps. Nevertheless, the Finn maintained his points-scoring streak with his eighth-place finish, extending it to six consecutive races. Following an enforced engine change after qualifying, owing to an oil leak from a component within the sealed perimeter, Giancarlo Fisichella actually started the race from the pit-lane in the T-car. However, he ran off track at turn five on lap one, and was forced to retire with a broken front-left pushrod.
Heikki Kovalainen said about his race: "It felt like I drove half of the race with my mirrors today - and when I had a clear track, the car was too heavy to be able to do the lap-times we needed to make our strategy work. To be honest, with a different strategy, I think we could have achieved a better result today because the car was definitely more competitive than it looked. After doing the long runs on Friday, we thought our pace was enough to make the one-stop strategy work, but it just didn't work out today. But that's life - sometimes, you calculate that the risk is worth taking, and it doesn't pay off. I had a fantastic start, but after that, I was just defending all the way through. There was a lot of wheel-to-wheel action but personally, I think that kind of thing is more fun when you are attacking!"
Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to finish the race and thus there wasn't much to say. He commented: "There is not much to say after such a short race. We started from the pit-lane, so we could use the car with a lower downforce set-up to try and make up positions. But when I came to turn five, I braked and the car just didn't slow down. It went straight on, I touched the barrier and broke the front-left suspension. I managed to get back to the pits, but there was nothing we could do to continue."
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