Feet on the ground - Bell
The Chassis Technical Director of the ING Renault F1 Team, Bob Beel talks about the progress made by the R27 since its track debut. Yesterday the R27 made his Grand Prix debut as both Kovalainen and Fisicella took the track during the free practice sessions at Albert Park
“Two main reasons explain our progress. Firstly, we racked up the miles and got to know the car better and we managed to adopt its set-up to the Bridgestone tyres’ characteristics. Secondly, we developed the R27 and found more performance through technical evolutions. Nothing magic, just hard work."
Does the final performance meet your expectations?“The R27 was reliable in private testing: it’s quick and behaves as we thought it would. Ferrari is more competitive thanks to its greater knowledge of Bridgestone rubber. We’ve got to find a way past the Reds and we’re going to do our damnedest to try. The development programme’s already under way.”
Is it just Ferrari or is McLaren also one of the teams to beat?“You know for us what counts is winning. As Ferrari has been the quickest so far it’s the one we want to beat. Second place isn’t part of our philosophy. We’ve got our feet on the ground and we know we’re a bit behind the Scuderia, but we’re not panicking. We’re the reigning champions and we know how to act.”
Those words are going to reassure the team’s supporters...“Of course. There’s nothing to be worried about. We’re starting out on a campaign that lasts eight months with its ups and downs, technical constraints etc. Designing the car that’s quickest over a lap is one thing, but designing one that’s the best throughout the whole championship is what we know how to do best at Renault. Let’s take another example: managing to design the best pistol in the world is no use is you can’t make it on a large scale, give it to your army and teach them how to us it. That’s our philosophy.”
Just a quick clarification concerning the practice yesterday: why did Heikki use the spare?“It’s a method that we use every Friday of a grand prix weekend. On an alternative basis one of the drivers uses the spare while the other drives his race car. That means we can use the T-car like a laboratory and fit it with many sensors. Heike will use this car today and Giancarlo will take over in Sepang on Friday and so on.”
Source Renaultf1
