Day three of testing in Jerez saw Fernando Alonso get his first taste of the R26, completing over 300 km. Giancarlo Fisichella worked on endurance tyre development with the R25.

The Renault F1 Team continued development work with the R26 today, with World Champion Fernando Alonso taking over driving duties from team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella in the new car.

The Spaniard had a slow start to the day, after a muscular pain saw him sit out the morning while he received treatment. During this time, Giancarlo drove the car in order to conduct systems checks and log data. Fernando was able to begin working again at lunchtime, suffering no after effects, and began his programme in the new car with a serie of short familiarisation runs to get a feel for the machine. After that, he began endurance running in the afternoon as the team once again aimed to maximise mileage with the new package. The Spaniard completed several long runs, in spite of his running being fragmented owing to several red flags.

Giancarlo Fisichella ran with the R25 throughout the day, using the reliable platform of the old car to conduct tyre development with Michelin, working on both short and long runs. He completed nearly 100 laps during the day.

Fernando Alonso: "I had a very good first day in the R26 today. I was hoping that it would feel similar to the R25, because that was a very good car for the drivers. The good news for me is that the new car was still easy to drive, it was consistent when we did some longer runs, and we didn't have any mechanical problems today. It was the first test with the new V8 engine, we didn't have any problems, and the feeling was similar to the simulation we have been running this winter. That was good because it means we have already prepared well in our testing. The performance of the package felt good, although at such an early stage there are still lots of areas to improve. But this is the first January test with a brand new car. Taking that into account, I think we are in a strong position."

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: "We had another very encouraging day of testing in Jerez. Neither car suffered any major problems, although of course this is more noteworthy on the R26. The biggest encouragement is that today felt like a normal day's testing, even though the car is only three days old: everything went very smoothly and the reliability already seems to be strong, although of course we will continue to work to improve every area. Our priority with the R26 was once again to put miles on the package, and we had a good day from that point of view as we completed longer runs in the afternoon. Giancarlo ran an extensive tyre development programme to orientate our development in the coming weeks, and obtained plenty of useful information."