Formula One news

Parente enjoys F1 debut with Renault

2007 World Series by Renault champion Alvaro Parente, enjoyed the fruits of his success with a day's testing at the wheel of the R27 with the ING Renault F1 Team in Jerez on Thursday. This saw the team complete a fourth and final day of testing with the R27 at the Spanish circuit, with the young Portuguese driver completing 64 laps on his first day in an F1 car.

Since 2005, the winner of the prestigious World Series by Renault has been invited to test with the ING Renault F1 Team. After triumphing last season, Alvaro Parente had the chance to enjoy his prize early in the year.

Under sunny skies, the Portuguese spent the morning acclimatising to the car with short runs of three to five laps. The work continued this afternoon, with the team making set-up changes to the R27 in order to gather Parente's feedback. Alvaro set his fastest time on new tyres at the end of the day, with a lap of 1:21.721.

Alvaro Parente said about his Formula One debut: "The past few days with the ING Renault F1 Team have been the best possible way to understand how a title winning team works. Everything was new to me, especially seeing so many people around the car and watching the telemetry! I want to thank everybody in the team, they gave me a fantastic welcome.

"At the wheel, I was most impressed by the speed I could carry through the high-speed sections and the g-forces. I was expecting the braking to be very powerful, and I adapted to this quite quickly. I learned something new on every run, the times improved steadily and I tried to give the engineers good feedback. It was a fantastic day, with positive results in every sense. I hope I can use the experience to my advantage for the next stage of my career."

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