Smooth day for Nelsinho

The ING Renault F1 Team today began working at its final test session of 2007, completing the first of three days at Jerez, near Seville, as the team continues its preparations for the 2008 Formula One season.

Following on from the work conducted in Barcelona last month with Heikki Kovalainen, the ING Renault F1 Team is looking to make the most of its final on-track running for over a month. The team is being represented by Nelson Piquet Jr this week, who concentrated on acclimatising to the R27 fitted with the 2008-spec standard ECU, and therefore without driver aids. The Brazilian had already driven the car in this configuration earlier in the year, and adapted quickly to the challenge. He ran through a programme of set-up work in order to find a good baseline set-up for the rest of the week.

The day ran smoothly for the team, and ING Renault F1 Team was encouraged by its progress today. Nelsinho completed a total of 67 laps, and set fifth-fastest time in 1:20.366.

Nelson Piquet Jr: "It was good to get back to driving today, particularly as I will be in the car for all three days this week. I was comfortable in the car, and it felt good to be running without driver aids. We found a good set-up for the car today, and that will help us make more progress tomorrow."

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: "Our aim for the day was to get Nelson comfortable with the car, and it went well. He did a good job on the set-up programme in order to find a baseline set-up for the rest of the week. We could have run more laps, but it was still an encouraging day, and we will be focusing on doing plenty of miles to successfully complete our programme over the next two days."

Nelson Piquet Jr, R27-06, 67 laps, 297km, best lap: 1:20.366