We have to aim to finish ahead of BMW - Permane
The ING Renault F1 Team’s chief race engineer, Alan Permane, is feeling positive after a strong qualifying session for the team. Heikki Kovalainen will start from 6th position on the US Grand Prix grid while team mate Giancarlo Fisichella will start from 10th position.
"It was pretty good for us! Heikki did a great job. He has had a normal weekend and sixth is an excellent position on the grid. Giancarlo’s starting slot doesn’t look so good on paper, but he will be much stronger in the race."
One week after a tough qualifying session in Canada, Heikki put in a faultless performance…"It’s true. In Canada, Heikki crashed on Friday, in an important session. We don’t run as much on Friday or Saturday morning… So you have to be careful on Friday afternoon, but he only made a small mistake – and nowhere punishes them like Montreal. Here in Indy, he made a perfect start to the weekend."
The R27 has improved significantly since Monaco. Is your understanding of the car better now?"I think the engineers did a good job to find the best set-up… they tried a few unusual things with a car that is improving all the time, they are experimenting with the set-ups, and I think that’s where the gain in performance is coming from."
Could Heikki’s lap have been any quicker?"No, he did the perfect job."
What happened to Fisico?"Nothing much. It maybe wasn’t his best lap of the year, but we are feeling confident for the race. He can have a good start, and if he passes a couple of cars at that point, then I am sure he can enjoy a very productive afternoon."
What are you hoping for in the race?"That’s a tricky question… I haven’t had time to analyse the numbers yet, but what we want is to finish ahead of both BMWs. If we can get both cars in front of Vettel at least, and we can score the same number of points as them, then we can make a start on our climb back towards the front – and a start on chasing them in the championship. That’s our target."
Source Renault
