Last day for Renault

Day three at Jerez for the Renault F1 Team today, with Fisico and Heikki continuing their work. As the team awoke this morning, it looked like being a difficult day: a damp circuit, and little breeze, meant conditions were far from ideal for testing, but that is often the lot of the test team during their winter programme.

At 09:04 exactly, both Renault F1 Team cars took to the track for their installation laps. This was followed by 15 laps during the morning to evaluate the handling of the R26 in low grip conditions, and to work on software development.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen then waited for circuit conditions to improve before continuing. They both took to the track around 13:00 with the Finn running a tyre development programme, while Fisico completed set-up work. The main focus of the work was tyre selection for the opening races of the season, with positive results as the timesheets showed.

The Renault F1 Team once again ran competitively, with the drivers taking the top two times of the day (1:17.756 for Fisico and 1:17.865 for Heikki) in spite of numerous stoppages for red flags.

Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk “The track conditions this morning allowed us to get a first impression of how the car handles in wet weather. Giancarlo seemed pleased with the car, and although it was Heikki’s first test in these conditions, he adapted very quickly. We had a productive afternoon, with Heikki conducting tyre testing in preparation for the first races of the year. Giancarlo continued to focus on set-up development, and he seems to have found some good solutions.”

The team will now conduct one more day of testing in Jerez, with Heikki Kovalainen running in artificial wet conditions on behalf of Michelin, before heading to Valencia next week.