R27 is an evolution of the R26

The ING Renault F1 Team unveiled their 2007 Formula One challenger today. Not only the team has undergone major chances, but also the car. Immediatly you can see a great difference between the 2006 Championship winning contender and the new R27, and we're not talking about the livery alone than.

The livery

With the departure of Mild Seven as sponsor of the Renault F1 Team, also the Mild Seven blue has disappeared with the arrival of the new title sponsor ING. The R27 livery exist from ING's main colours: orange, dark blue and white and Renault maintained a stripe of yellow.

The driver

There are three new faces at Renault. Heikki Kovalainen, who was the team's 2006 test- and reserve driver, will team up with Giancarlo Fisichella, who will be driving his third year for Renault. Nelson Piquet Jr., the new test- and reserve driver of the team, competed in the GP2 series last season but already showed his potential in an F1 car during several tests with Renault. Ricardo Zonta, the former third driver of Toyota, will be conducting test work for the team as he has been appointed as second test driver.

The new driver line-up of the ING Renault F1 Team is a nice mix of experience and youth.

The car

According to the team, the R27 represents an aggressive evolution of the design philosophy that has won Championships for Renault in 2005 and 2006. Not only the mirrors are an innovation, but also the sidepods are completly redesigned as the air inlets are narrower.

The R27 will also be equiped with an instantaneous gearchange (IGC) gearbox, which has already completed thousands of kilometres in a hybrid car.

After years of cooperation with Michelin, the R27 will be the first Renault F1 car to run on Bridgestone tyres. With the same specification of tyre available to all competitors, the onus is on the teams to exploit the tyres in the most effective manner possible. With this in mind, the R27 has been designed to be more adjustable in terms of weight distribution and other dynamic characteristics, in order to provide the trackside engineering teams with maximum flexibility in tuning the car.