Strong home race from Alonso gives Renault 4 points
The ING Renault F1 Team scored four points today as Fernando Alonso finished fifth in his home race at Barcelona. Teammate Nelson Piquet finished the Spanish Grand Prix in 12th place. The French team got more out of the weekend than expected and hopes to continue like this.
Fernando Alonso, R2904, P5
First stint: 17 laps, soft tyres
Second stint: 25 laps, soft tyres
Third stint: 24 laps, hard tyres
Fernando: “It was a great race for us. We were not too optimistic before the start and our simulations suggested we would finish in 9th or 10th place. But I had a good start and I was up to 6th after the first corner. The car worked really well during the race and then I was able to overtake Massa on the final lap. It was also an interesting race for the fans.”
Nelson Piquet, R2901, P12
First stint: 20 laps, soft tyres
Second stint: 25 laps, soft tyres
Third stint: 21 laps, hard tyres
Nelson: “I was lucky not to get caught in the accident at the start of the race. The performance of the car was disappointing and the balance wasn’t good. I don’t have a fully updated car yet so I hope that we can make some improvements for the next race.”
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: “Today’s result and our pace in the race showed the potential and the improvements made to the car as Fernando’s times were very close to those of the front runners. Now we must work hard and keep improving in order to secure strong points for both cars in the races to come.”
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: “Barcelona is not renowned for producing exciting racing, but that certainly wasn’t true today. It was a fight all the way through to end and a great result from Fernando. Nelson was extremely lucky not to have been taken out in the first corner accident, which seemed to have happened all around him. From then on the car didn’t have the pace we expected and we feel that there is probably unseen damage to it.”
Remi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations: “Overall it was a weekend that brought us more than we expected. We came here with hopes of taking a step forward, but unfortunately everybody brought lots of developments and the order of the teams remained pretty much the same. But thanks to the work that we have done throughout the weekend, we’ve come away with a great result. Fernando was pushing flat out for the whole race and fifth place is a nice reward. This result puts us in a good frame of mind for the upcoming races, but we will continue working hard.”
