Formula One news

Renault confident after strong Friday

Both Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet enjoyed productive sessions as the team worked through its technical programme of set-up work and tyre evaluation. Both drivers were comfortably in the top ten in both sessions, with Fernando topping the timesheets in the afternoon. The team will look to build on the work completed today in the final practice session tomorrow to be in good shape for qualifying.

"The day has gone well," said Alonso. "We have been able to complete our programme without any problems and we have recorded lots of interesting data. We still need to work hard to improve the car in time for tomorrow, but I'm pleased with my day."

Nelson Piquet commented, "I did lots of laps today, which was what I wanted as I needed to find the limits of the circuit. The initial information we have is interesting, but the track was very slippery today and so I think I can still find some more speed and I can still improve the set-up of the car with my engineers. But on the whole the result from this first day of practice is encouraging."

Engineering chief Pat Symonds added, "It was a typical Friday for us. We covered lots of laps and have been able to complete our usual programme, which included set-up work and tyre evaluation. The data looks encouraging, although the general balance of the car is not yet where we would like it to be."

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