These were important points - Chevrier
The Renault F1 team’s head of trackside engine operations, Dennis Chevrier, focused on the positives after the race at the Nürburgring. Fernando Alonso finished 2nd and Giancarlo Fisichella 6th. Here follows the interview with Chevrier
"This weekend, we had two very different races to run – Fernando went into the race with a brand new B spec engine, while Fisico was tackling the second event with his unit. And it was even more the case after qualifying, when we knew Fisico had to bounce back from his incident on Saturday afternoon."
Could you have done anything differently to try and win?"We did everything we could this weekend. The way we handled qualifying, our race strategy, our start – everything was good and put us in the best possible position. But the competitive situation was very, very tight this weekend and the Ferraris were stronger. From our side, Fernando drove a remarkable race and didn’t make any mistakes. Giancarlo had a tougher task and managed to score points that we know will be vital for the championship. We avoided mistakes this weekend, and although we scored fewer than Ferrari, we scored some important points."
Giancarlo’s engine is the first B spec to have completed two races. What have you learned?"From the engine point of view, I think the last two races have been very encouraging. We have not had any problems at all with Fisico’s engine, or indeed with Fernando’s new unit. Everything ran smoothly, and we were really pushing! They were both intense races where we had to push hard with aggressive strategies. From the technical side, it looks very positive and I am optimistic."
Will you be using the engine differently in Barcelona?"We collected a lot of important information, and that will be even more true once we have dismantled Fisico’s engine, which will be done this week so we can use that information in Spain. The B spec met our expectations and had no major problems, which means it is already a very good basis for the next evolutions ahead."
The Spanish Grand Prix begins in barely five days. What are you expecting?"I think we will be going to Barcelona hoping to get the win we didn’t manage at the Nürburging. The gap to our rivals at the moment is very small, and it only takes the slightest problem to give one or other the advantage. We are looking to this race to get back in front. In five days, there shouldn’t be any major variations and we will certainly see the same teams at the front. McLaren may be even stronger, and we can’t forget Honda even though they didn’t seem on the pace in Germany. We are not apprehensive about the race, we know the track well and we know the B spec engine is strong. The challenge will be to make sure the advantage swings back to us next weekend."
Source Renaultf1
