Formula One news

Alonso confident of improvement

Renault completed its Hockenheim test programme on Thursday, bringing to a close its preparations for next week's German Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso remained in the R28 for his second day of work with the team this week and benefited from near perfect weather conditions with temperatures in the region of 30°C. The team made the most of the warm and sunny weather to complete a total of 115 laps, equivalent to 523km.

"Another busy day, covering lots of laps and getting more data, which will be useful for the race next week," said Alonso. "It was quite nice to drive with the warmer temperatures because I think it is more representative of what we will have over the race weekend. We were certainly more competitive, so it is clear that we have improved the car and that we are going in the right direction, but we still have some further ideas to explore over the race weekend."

Chief test engineer Christian Silk added, "We concentrated on race preparation work today, did some tyre evaluation, and completed the rest of our programme. The car was working reasonably well and so overall we are quite happy with the week's work and looking forward to the race here. It was good to run in the warm temperatures today because they are more typical of what we can expect next week."

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• 05 Sep.
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  • Raikkonen crash hinders Ferrari preparations
  • Renault lifted by Alonso's pace
  • BMWs struggle on Friday
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  • Force India happy with practice
  • Toro Rossos going well at Spa
  • New parts working well for Williams
  • Honda struggling at Spa
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  • Alonso tops second practice
  • McLaren to open office in US
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• 04 Sep.
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• 03 Sep.
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