Formula One news

Alonso and Piquet enjoy trouble-free day

The ING Renault F1 Team began its preparations for the German Grand Prix today with both Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet enjoying trouble-free practice sessions in Hockenheim and successfully completing their Friday programmes.

Conditions remained overcast throughout the day with a damp morning seeing the opening session take place on a drying track. Both Fernando and Nelson took the opportunity to run in the wet conditions, which could prove valuable given the uncertain weather forecast for the weekend. The track quickly dried out during the morning session and remained dry for the rest of the day.

Having tested at the circuit last week, the team adapted its Friday workload accordingly and concentrated on finalising the set-up options of the R28, and completing its tyre evaluation work. By the end of the three hours available, the team had completed a grand total of 128 laps across the different track conditions and collected some interesting and valuable data. Attention now turns to maximising the final free practice session and confirming the potential of the R28 in tomorrow afternoon's qualifying session.

Fernando Alonso commented: "It was a normal day without any difficulties. The rain this morning affected our programme slightly, but it also allowed us to run on a wet track which could turn out to be useful for later in the weekend. We must still improve the general balance of the car, but we have already laid the foundations for the weekend."

Nelson Piquet said: "As we drove here last week, we already had a good basis to work from and we have built on that today by driving on a damp track this morning and a dry track in the afternoon. We were able to make good progress and have improved the set-up of the car. We will continue to work on this tomorrow morning so that we are ready for qualifying, but we are certainly moving in the right direction."

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