Renault's R26 is ready to race

The final day for the Renault F1 Team at Valencia this week, before moving on to Jerez next week. The two Renault F1 Team drivers completed an efficient and productive final day of testing in Valencia, running without incident throughout the day. With massive runs, Renault put in the most mileage of all teams today.

With several teams having concluded running yesterday, there were fewer cars on track – which meant fewer red flags, and a better chance of completing the all-important long runs. Track conditions this morning were cool, but still good enough to let the drivers start running early and complete plenty of running.

Fernando and Heikki both completed race distances during the morning. The consistency and level of performance were encouraging, and allowed the drivers to focus on tyre development with Michelin this afternoon. Their programmes were similar in structure to the other days, but with new solutions to try out.

The team also used the final day to begin pit-stop training, notably practicing tyre changes which will once again be authorised this year during races.

Overall, an interesting day to conclude a busy week for the team, which saw both drivers racking up lots of mileage. “We have made good progress in our work this week, and obtained some very positive results,” analysed Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk. “We identified some good directions for the next test sessions, and we will be back in action in Jerez on Wednesday.”