Renault starts testing at Monza

A sunny day blessed with summer temperatures under the stern gaze of the Italian Alps: it was a perfect day for a stroll in Monza’s royal park…! After the team’s strong performance last weekend in Silverstone, the team has landed in Italy for three days of testing at the historic autodrome.

The French team has a busy programme for the week, preparing for the two tough North American races, where competition will be tight and good results a key part of the championship fight.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen are on duty with the R26 this week. The Roman worked primarily on set-ups for the forthcoming Canadian Grand Prix today. As for Heikki, he completed tyre development with Michelin ahead of the US Grand Prix.

Both drivers set competitive times, and established a good baseline for the week’s work. Giancarlo Fisichella ended the day at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1’23.647, while Heikki was third in 1’23.739.

After completing nearly 208 laps with the two cars, it proved to be a productive opening day of running, as Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk explained: “Our first day was really satisfying and we already completed the first half of our tyre testing. We noticed interesting results of the new package we would like to use for the Canadian GP. Giancarlo has a very good experience on this track and Heikki did his first session in F1 in Monza today. He was really efficient what is very satisfying as well.”