Very wet day for Renault at Suzuka
The Renault Formula One Team completed a very wet day of practice at Suzuka in preparation for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. Due to the bad weather, the French outfit found it difficult to learn much today.
Fernando Alonso, R2904 Free practice 1: 22 laps, 1:41.532, P7 1 Installation lap Run 1: 6 laps, new intermediate tyres Run 2: 9 laps, same intermediate tyres, adjustment to front wing Run 3: 6 laps, same intermediate tyres
Free Practice 2: 5 laps, 1:48.693, P7 1 Installation lap Run 1: 4 laps, new wet tyres
Fernando: "Today we couldn't do many laps because of the heavy rain, but we think it will be a dry race so we limited our running. We are happy with the car and there are no problems, but tomorrow we will start the real work and everything will be new once again for everyone."
Romain Grosjean, R2903 Free practice 1: 22 laps, 1:43.572, P20 1 Installation lap Run 1: 9 laps, new intermediate tyres Run 2: 8 laps, same intermediate tyres, adjustment to front wing Run 3: 5 laps, same intermediate tyres, adjustment to front wing and to front ride height
Free Practice 2: 6 laps, 1:49.045, P14 1 Installation lap Run 1: 5 laps, new wet tyres
Romain: "With the rain today it was not a great free practice, which is a shame. I did my best to complete some laps and to learn the circuit as this is my first time at Suzuka, although in the second session I only completed a few laps. I think we will have to wait for the weather to improve tomorrow to continue with our work."
Bob Bell, Team Principal: "It has been a very wet day. We managed to run on intermediate tyres during the first session and full wets this afternoon. That has given us an idea of how those tyres work on this circuit and we also have a rough idea for the set-up of the car in wet conditions. Beyond that it was very difficult to learn very much today. The forecast suggests that it could be wet tomorrow morning, but it should by dry for qualifying and the race. Therefore we may well start qualifying running dry tyres for the first time, which could make for a very interesting session."
