17/06/2005
NEWS STORY
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team put in a solid performance during the opening day of practice for the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis today, with both drivers completing a lot of laps to thoroughly evaluate tyre performance at the Speedway. The balance of the R25 is not yet satisfactory, with Fernando and Giancarlo both complaining of a lack of rear-end grip, and they finished the day ninth and eleventh respectively on the timesheets.
Fernando Alonso: It was very slippery out on track today, and the car had a lot of oversteer all the way through both sessions – some of it was coming from the track conditions, but we still have some work to do on the set-up to get things right. I did a lot of laps though, which meant that I could collect some good information about the circuit and get used to running at this track again, which was useful because we obviously don't have the chance to test here during the season. We concentrated on making the right tyre choice, and we have some ideas about how to improve the car balance. I am sure that we will be in much better shape tomorrow morning.
Giancarlo Fisichella: The car felt very loose in both sessions today – we couldn't find the grip we needed to get a good balance, but still managed to do a lot of laps and to look carefully at the two different types of tyre. Our level of performance did not seem fantastic, but of course we don't know what fuel loads the other teams were running and how they approached the day. We need to find some answers in terms of the set-up, but this was a solid beginning to the weekend.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: The unusual nature of this circuit makes it very demanding for the tyres in a number of ways, and the type of tyre we run here is one with which we have less experience than those we use at more standard circuits. Friday practice is always about looking at the tyre choice, but that was the case even more than usual today, and we completed long distance running with high fuel loads to fully assess performance in representative race conditions. The programmes on both cars went quite smoothly, although we are not yet happy with the balance for either driver, but this is something we are confident can be addressed overnight.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations: Many teams, including ourselves, ran a lot of laps today in order to complete their preparations for the race – and as ever, this means that the timesheets do not necessarily give a representative picture of the teams' relative performance. We ran the fresh V10s without any problems, completing the necessary mapping and tuning, and we have made a good start for Sunday. We are in the top half of the field, and the cars seem to be competitive in terms of top speed; we now need to wait until tomorrow to understand exactly where our true level of performance lies.