R29 just not competitive enough
It was a tough afternoon for the ING Renault F1 Team as Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet finished in 10th and 16th places respectively in the Turkish Grand Prix, thus leaving Istanbul Park without points.
Fernando Alonso, R2904, P10
1st stint: 14 laps, soft tyres
2nd stint: 26 laps, hard tyres
3rd stint: 18 laps, hard tyres
Fernando: "Of course I feel frustrated that we didn't manage to finish in the points, but to be honest we couldn't expect much more today. We started in eighth position and having the lightest car on the grid penalised us because after the first pit-stop we just couldn't keep up with the pace with the top contenders. We therefore need to improve quickly. Hopefully the changes expected for the Silverstone race will be significant enough to see us score some good points and change our situation for the second part of the season."
Nelson Piquet, R2901, P16
1st stint: 31 laps, hard tyres
2nd stint: 17 laps, hard tyres
3rd stint: 10 laps, soft tyres
Nelson: "It was quite a straightforward race today, but my fate had been decided yesterday with the problems that I had in qualifying and so it was difficult to make the strategy work. The car was good and I had some fun battles, including the one with Hamilton when I passed him, but our final result is disappointing. However, I remain confident we can improve in time for Silverstone."
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: "Both drivers did the best they could in a difficult race and with a car that's just not competitive enough. Our priority is to keep working flat-out and to introduce constant and substantial updates and improvements to the car at each race for the remainder of the season."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "From the grid positions that we had and the current speed of the car it was difficult to see how to get points from this race. We tried to use the tyres in a slightly different manner to see if this would help us, but ultimately it wasn't enough to give us a positive result. As we have said so many times before, we must improve the basic pace of the car."
Remi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations
"The race was difficult today. Our drivers performed well and gave their maximum, but with the way the weekend developed it was clear we couldn't finish in the points. We now head to Silverstone where we are determined to get a better result. We are all extremely motivated and will continue working at 250%."
