Formula One news

Alonso breaks into top ten for Renault

Renault enjoyed a reasonably satisfying afternoon as Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet qualified in 9th and 13th places for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix.

"We achieved our first objective today, which was to get into Q3," said Alonso. "We can now concentrate on our second objective which is to improve our pace in the race and to finish in the points. I could have done better in Q3 this afternoon as I was with Heidfeld on a fast lap while the others were going slowly, and that affected me a bit, which is a shame. I am sure that the race tomorrow will be interesting and I hope we can find our way into the points, just like in Melbourne. We must now concentrate on our preparation for the race tomorrow."

Nelson Piquet commented, "I am relatively satisfied with my qualifying this afternoon. I made good progress in the last free practice session this morning and my qualifying went without too many problems. Of course I must still improve, but I am not too far away from my teammate and I cannot wait to see how the race goes tomorrow. My objective will be to do better than Melbourne and to reach the end of my second Grand Prix, and if possible to score some points."

Engineering chief Pat Symonds added, "I think we can be reasonably satisfied with our performance today. With Fernando we got the car into Q3 and we could see that while the times were reasonably close, the margin needed to obtain a good grid position was probably beyond us. As a result we took a tactical decision to fuel quite long and so ninth place was pretty acceptable. Fernando has had a good weekend and worked well with his engineers to get this result. It's unfortunate for Nelson that he missed Q3 by a reasonably small margin, most of which can be accounted for by a couple of errors in Turns 2 and 4. He has had an excellent weekend and been constantly competitive. I'm sure that he is due a strong race here tomorrow."

more news

• 06 Jul.
  • Dennis: Kovalainen's pole well deserved
  • Button prays for rain
  • Horner enjoys team's first front row
• 05 Jul.
  • Coulthard disappointed with eleventh
  • Fisichella missed out on Q2
  • Difficult qualifying session for Williams
  • Webber surprised to be in front row
  • Toyota missed out on top ten
  • Maiden pole position for Kovalainen
  • Live: British Grand Prix 1st free practice
  • Frank Williams glad British Grand Prix is saved
  • Alonso fastest at drying track
  • Photos: Saturday at Silverstone
• 04 Jul.
  • Alonso's engine problem didn't surprise the team
  • Photos: Friday at Silverstone
  • McLaren drivers happy with first day at Silverstone
  • Mixed day for Williams drivers
  • Clutch problems for Glock, new rear wing for Trulli
  • Steady start for Red Bull drivers
  • Donington pleased with F1 contract
  • Kovalainen fastest in the afternoon
  • British Grand Prix moves to Donington
  • Fastest time and heavy crash for Massa
  • British drivers will miss Coulthard
  • Batmobile challenges Glock at Silverstone
• 03 Jul.
  • Webber extends Red Bull contract
  • Horner will miss good friend and gentleman Coulthard
  • Coulthard to retire at end of season
  • New at GPUpdate.net: Live reports
  • Photos: Thursday at Silverstone
  • Massa targets British podium
  • Raikkonen to use new engine
  • Ecclestone leaves door open for British Grand Prix
• 02 Jul.
  • Singapore Grand Prix to build 1,600 extra seats
  • Webber: We cannot afford to lose Silverstone too
  • Sutil expects step forward
• 01 Jul.
  • Fisichella doing fine after heavy crash
  • Toro Rosso happy with its current drivers
  • Toyota joins forces with Batman
  • Coulthard optimistic for second half of the year

Homepage