23/07/2004
NEWS STORY
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team concluded the opening day of practice for the German Grand Prix with its two drivers in eighth and fourteenth positions, Fernando Alonso ahead of team-mate Jarno Trulli. With circuit temperatures exceeding 40°C, both drivers' days focused on tyre selection, with each running a substantial programme. Jarno Trulli worked to correct a nervous rear end on the R24 during much of the day, while Fernando Alonso felt the car balance was acceptable, but that the team still needs to find more grip and speed ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "At a circuit such as Hockenheim, tyre selection demands our full concentration on Friday, and we completed a disciplined programme in order to compare our prime and option tyres. Fortunately, the weather stayed dry and this allowed us to collect a useful amount of information. We are still lacking some grip, and although both drivers' complained of understeer and overtseer at various points during the day, I think this can probably be attributed to the variations in tyre performance and condition. Overall, we are happy with our day, and Fernando's time in the second session puts us among our usual competitors."
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations: "We competed a full programme with each car today, studying a number of different parameters during the two sessions. We did not encounter any technical problems and concentrated on adapting the engine to this circuit. Our work has taught us a lot about optimising our use of the new specification engine, and we suffered no dramas with it. However, our development work has concentrated primarily on race performance, and times in Friday practice do not necessarily give a true indication of our potential."