Good progress for Renault at Silverstone

Although the chequered flag fell at the US GP less than 48 hours ago, the ING Renault F1 Team is already hard at work testing at Silverstone, ahead of the forthcoming British Grand Prix that will be held at this circuit in three weeks’ time.

The ING Renault F1 Team has planned an extensive development programme for the three days, which Heikki Kovalainen began today. The young Finn focused on car set-up on the opening morning, and once he had found a satisfactory balance, began the heart of the technical programme. In spite of low grip conditions, he was able to compare a number of different aerodynamic set-ups, before making an initial comparison of the two tyre types that Bridgestone will bring to this race (the medium and hard compounds from the 2007 range).

At the end of the day, Heikki had completed a total of 63 laps, equivalent to 319 km, and finished in P4 with a best lap of 1:23.510. The day was interrupted by numerous red flags for other cars, but the team nevertheless collected useful data, which will be enriched during the next two days.

After good weather at the start of the day, clouds begin building through the afternoon, which indicates a likely deterioration of conditions for tomorrow. Heikki Kovalainen and Nelson Piquet Jr. will be sharing chassis R27-06 tomorrow, and will continue the development work begun today.

Heikki Kovalainen: “It was an interesting day for us, I think. We are determined to continue our progress from recent weeks, and this is a very important test session for us. I collected some good data today, which we will analyse overnight and build upon tomorrow. It was also good to find my feet on this circuit, which I know well, before my first British GP in three weeks’ time.”

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “The circuit was very slippery and low grip this morning, which is normal on the first day of testing. But there are lots of teams running, and the grip level will climb quickly as they all put rubber down. That will help us to make good progress with the test programme in the coming days. We didn’t quite complete our planned programme, but the work we did was very positive, and looks encouraging for the rest of the week.”

Heikki Kovalainen, R27-06, 63 laps, 319 laps, best lap: 1:23.510