Formula One news

Grosjean collects 'Piquet wall' in practice

The amount of irony in the air could not have been higher when Romain Grosjean's No. 2 Renault spun and hit the wall at Turn 17 in Singapore on Friday. The Frenchman incredibly collided with the same piece of concrete which had been struck by Nelson Piquet last year in what became the 'Crashgate' outrage.

With Renault having lost title sponsor ING, both cars circulated the Marina Bay circuit with plain 'Renault' wording in black text on their sidepods, engine covers and rear wings on Friday. Although Grosjean's accident was just that and nothing more sinister, the Frenchman's spin was no doubt bordering on abnormal.

Skid marks left on the circuit following Grosjean's Practice 1 off

"Today was my first experience of the Singapore circuit," he said later. "Unfortunately, I made a small error in the first session which cost me a lot of time."

Team-mate and 2008 race winner Fernando Alonso was clearly pushing hard to record the day's second best time. "Today we completed a normal Friday programme for a street circuit," the World Champion of 2005 and 2006 reported.

"The track was very dirty and slippery in both the sessions, which always makes it difficult to learn about the car and improve the balance and I had a lot of oversteer. However, I think we made the most of the track time available and we are in reasonable shape for tomorrow."

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