Busy programme for Renault

The Renault F1 Team once again enjoyed a productive day’s testing in Valencia. A strong, gusting wind made life difficult for the drivers, making the cars nervous to drive and quite unpredictable. They were nevertheless able to run without any major incidents, and completed a high mileage for the day.

Giancarlo Fisichella had a busy programme, with a planned race distance in the morning followed by a set-up and tyre evaluation programme. His morning’s work was interrupted by a hydraulic leak at the beginning of this third “stint”, around lunchtime, but he was back on track two hours later to continue the programme. In all, he completed 477 km.

As for Heikki Kovalainen, the Finn conducted initial selections of tyres destined for use at the Australian Grand Prix in early April. He completed a series of 10 laps runs to finish with a total of 574 km and fastest time of the day.

So what was the verdict on the day? Positive, as Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk explains: “This was one of our best days of the winter. We did more than 1000 km with only minor problems on both cars, and the R26 seems very competitive. Heikki completed his programme of tyre and brake testing without any problems, and we found some very interesting directions with the Michelin tyres. As for Giancarlo, his race distance was interrupted by a minor hydraulic problem, but he ran trouble-free this afternoon as he worked on set-up and tyre development.”