Renault satisfied with busy Monaco Thursday
The ING Renault F1 Team completed a busy day of practice in preparation for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr. put in a lot of laps to be fully prepared for the extremely important qualifying session at Monaco.
Fernando Alonso, R2904
Free practice 1: 31 laps, 1:18.283 on lap 19, P9
Run 1: 11 laps, new hard tyres
Run 2: 9 laps, same set of hard tyres
Run 3: 9 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to front wing
Free Practice 2: 39 laps, 1:16.552 on lap 32, P11
Run 1: 4 laps, set of used hard tyres, change to front ride height and gear box ratios
Run 2: 10 laps, new soft tyres
Run 3: 12 laps, same set of hard tyres
Run 4: 7 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to front wing and to front ride heights
Run 5: 5 laps, new soft tyres
Fernando: “Monaco on a Thursday is always more important for the drivers than for the team because it gives us time to get used to the circuit and feel comfortable in the car. We did quite a lot of laps today so it was useful for me and I’m happy with the car. I think that we are quite competitive, but qualifying will be the key to the race and our preparation today should help ensure we get the most from the car on Saturday.”
Nelson Piquet, R2901
Free practice 1: 36 laps, 1:19.204 on lap 23, P12
Run 1: 13 laps, new hard tyres
Run 2: 12 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to front wing
Run 3: 9 laps, same set of hard tyres
Free Practice 2: 43 laps, 1:16.286 on lap 40, P10
Run 1: 5 laps, set of used hard tyres, change to front anti-roll bar and front ride height
Run 2: 11 laps, new soft tyres
Run 3: 12 laps, new hard tyres
Run 4: 7 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to front wing and front suspension
Run 5: 7 laps, new soft tyres
Nelson: “It always takes a few laps to get used to racing on the tight streets of Monaco, but after the morning session I was back in the groove. The car worked well today and we didn’t have any problems, which allowed us to complete a lot of laps. The track was dirty this morning and improved during the day, just as it always does in Monaco, but that made it difficult to evaluate the tyres and the set-up changes we made. Overall though I think we are in reasonable shape for the weekend.”
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: “It was a normal Thursday in Monaco. It’s very difficult to really improve the car because the circuit conditions change so rapidly, but we seem quite competitive here, although that is not reflected in the final times because both drivers had problems with traffic.”
