Renault makes good progress
The Renault F1 Team today continued its work at the Catalan circuit, concentrating on learning about the Bridgestone tyres. A mid-morning rain shower slightly delayed the team's work, but they were nevertheless able to collect a large amount of interesting data.
Heikki Kovalainen concentrated on tyre testing in order to continue the learning process with the Bridgestone tyres. The young Finn also conducted tests with different helmet tyres to evaluate their impact on air intake pressure. By the end of the day, he had completed 52 laps with a fastest time of 1:18.752.
His young team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr. continued to work on a programme designed to asses how set-up changes affected tyre performance. Once again, the aim was to collect as much information as possible with a view to the coming season. In parallel, Nelsinsho's goal was to run as many laps as possible in order to continue with the reliability programme on 2007 components such as the new 2007 gearbox that has been running on the R26-05 ‘hybrid' chassis. The young Brazilian set the tenth fastest time at the end of the day in 1:18.307, and completed 82 laps of the Spanish circuit.
Heikki Kovalainen"We have a heavy workload at this sessions and a lot to learn, firstly about the tyres of course but also about how they affect the handling of the car. We are making good progress and collecting important data, which is our main objective for the week."
Nelson Piquet Jr."I had another good day, doing lots of laps without any problems, which is very positive for me and is allowing me to continue learning with the team. I am trying to make the most of each session to get to know better the people I ma working with, and to get some reference points. We will continue our work tomorrow because there's still lots left to do!"
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer"This was a very positive day for our reliability testing. We completed a substantial programme and collected a lot of data, particularly about the Bridgestone tyres. There is still a long way to go with our work, and we are aware of that, but that is the whole point of coming testing at this stage of the winter."
