Interview with Alan Permane
Renault's Giancarlo Fisischella's race engineer is optimistic after the first day's running in Brazil. Giancarlo Fisichella his fastest time was 1:13.518 and ended on place 10 after 39 laps on the circuit.
Interview with Alan Permane
Alan, how did the first day go?
"Really well. The car handled as we expected as soon as we started running. We did a good tyre comparison, and even if we seem quite far down the times in second practice, we are not worried. The race pace and consistency looks good, and we didn’t try for flashy lap times. There is an optimistic feeling."
Will tyre choice be straightforward?
"No, because Michelin have given us two excellent tyres. We have until tomorrow to make our decision. Then, we will work on the performance, but I don’t think we will have that many changes to make."
Are you closer to McLaren?
"I think so. It is hard to know how much, but we have made a step forward. Giancarlo was the quickest car on the main straight, but in a sensible race configuration. We are quite light on downforce so we can get past backmarkers easily and also overtake competitors on Sunday. In spite of that, we are very competitive in the second sector, which is the twisty bit. For Giancarlo, this is important, because he will be one of the first to qualify after his accident in Spa. The track conditions will be a bit slower, which makes it hard to fight for pole. In those circumstances, he will need the ability to overtake in race trim."
Do you know how much the track conditions will cost in lap-time in qualifying?
"It is hard to be sure, but I would expect it to be around 0.3s compared to the final runners."
Finally, who will be your main rivals?
"According to what we saw today, and if the weather doesn’t mix things up, then the battle for the win is once again between us and McLaren…"
The last note is however remarkable, as at the end of the second practice session on friday. It were not only the McLaren drivers that were performing well, but Takuma Sato, 2 Toyotas and 2 Ferraris were also faster than either of the Renaults. It may be a little unusual for Renault not to be on top in first or second practice, it still remains strange to find them only in 10th and 11th place.
