Bruno Senna gets first taste of the R31
Bruno Senna enjoyed his first experience of the R31 today as the team gave the Brazilian mileage on the final day of testing in Jerez. Renault meanwhile also tested a new specification gearbox cooler which went without major concerns.
It was a day of firsts for Bruno, who tried Pirelli tyres, KERS and the adjustable rear wing for the first time. Incidentally, it was only his second ever F1 test session.
Bruno Senna:
“It was an awesome day - my first chance to drive the R31 and I’m pleased with how things went. It was very much a learning day for me. I had never used the adjustable wing or the KERS before, so I had to adapt to these. It’s not easy at first, because there is a big workload and you are operating two factors that change the balance of the car, but by the end of the day it became more like second nature. I started the day pretty relaxed; gradually built up my confidence, and then by lunchtime I was feeling pretty comfortable with things. I was looking forward to doing some hard laps at the end of the day, but with the red flags and the weather, there wasn’t enough time.”
Alan Permane’s technical programme notes:
- Bruno took a sensible approach to the day, slowly building up his pace and giving good feedback to the team, and showing good speed on new tyres at the end of the morning.
- The planned programme was similar to Nick’s yesterday – some set-up work, new tyre runs and long runs in the afternoon. Unfortunately the afternoon was disrupted with red flags so we didn’t complete the long runs.
- We also continued with aero mapping, which has been one of the main priorities of the week, along with the tyre evaluation.
Driver: Bruno Senna
Chassis: R31-01
Fastest Lap: 1:21.400
Position: P5
Total laps: 68
