Piquet Jr. returns to the test track after German podium place

The ING Renault F1 Team remained in Jerez today to complete a second day of work at the Spanish circuit. Nelson Piquet was in action for the team, fresh from his second place finish in Hockenheim at the weekend, and completed a busy day of work with the team.

Conditions remained hot with temperatures on track reaching 48°C, which again made for difficult track conditions. The team still pushed ahead with its development programme as Nelson completed a busy morning working on the set-up and balance of the car. For the afternoon, attention shifted to testing some suspension developments and brake testing.

By the end of the day, Nelson had covered a total of 99 laps, and completed the programme for the day. He will remain in the cockpit of the R28 for his final day of work with the team tomorrow, before Romain Grosjean takes over for the final day or testing on Friday.

Nelson Piquet: “It was very hot on the track today, especially in the afternoon, which made it difficult to get a great balance with the car. The hot temperatures also meant that the tyres did not last too long. But we were still able to do some set-up work this morning and tried out some new things on the car, which went well. We now have lots of information that we will go over this evening so that we can maximise tomorrow.”

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “A good day’s testing overall. We spent the morning doing some set-up work and tested some R&D items on the suspension as well. We also took the opportunity to do some brake testing to get ready for the hard braking circuits that are coming up. In the afternoon the track was very hot again, which made it difficult to learn much about the car, but we continued with the suspension work and completed the programme successfully.”

Nelson Piquet, R28-04, 99 laps, 438 km, fastest lap 1:20.827