24 February 2008
Barcelona Testing, Day 3, 27/02/2008
27/02/08 19:25
Fernando Alonso, R28-03, 114 laps, 531 km, fastest
lap: 1’21.454
Nelson Piquet, R28-01, 128 laps, 596 km, fastest lap: 1’21.443
The ING Renault F1 Team completed its final day of pre-season testing today at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona. The team enjoyed good weather throughout the day with warm and sunny conditions allowing the team to complete an uninterrupted programme.
The team was running two R28s with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet remaining in the cars to complete their final laps before the opening race of the season in Melbourne.
Both drivers completed set-up programmes in the morning and then long runs in the afternoon, which provided another chance for the mechanics to run through pit stop drills. With good reliability and the collection of valuable data, the team has enjoyed another productive day. Both drivers completed over a 100 laps, with Nelson covering the most of any driver with 128.
Now the team’s attention turns to Melbourne and the new season. Both drivers will travel to Australia at the end of next week to complete some fitness training and to acclimatise to the time difference. Meanwhile, back at the factories in Enstone and Viry Châtillon, the team will continue working hard on the development of the R28.
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “We had a large programme to complete over the three days, and we were quite ambitious with what we were working on. For the most part we managed to complete everything we wanted and we have completed all our homework in time for Melbourne.
“Between now and the first race we need to tidy up the cars as much as possible; get all the new parts on the cars that we have looked at during testing to get them into race specification. Obviously we still have a lot of work to do from these three tests because we’ve had three tests back-to-back and not had much chance to analyse the data and understand what has happened. So that is what will happen back at the factories; there will be an element of thinking about what has happened over these tests and taking using that information for the first race.”
Nelson Piquet, R28-01, 128 laps, 596 km, fastest lap: 1’21.443
The ING Renault F1 Team completed its final day of pre-season testing today at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona. The team enjoyed good weather throughout the day with warm and sunny conditions allowing the team to complete an uninterrupted programme.
The team was running two R28s with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet remaining in the cars to complete their final laps before the opening race of the season in Melbourne.
Both drivers completed set-up programmes in the morning and then long runs in the afternoon, which provided another chance for the mechanics to run through pit stop drills. With good reliability and the collection of valuable data, the team has enjoyed another productive day. Both drivers completed over a 100 laps, with Nelson covering the most of any driver with 128.
Now the team’s attention turns to Melbourne and the new season. Both drivers will travel to Australia at the end of next week to complete some fitness training and to acclimatise to the time difference. Meanwhile, back at the factories in Enstone and Viry Châtillon, the team will continue working hard on the development of the R28.
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “We had a large programme to complete over the three days, and we were quite ambitious with what we were working on. For the most part we managed to complete everything we wanted and we have completed all our homework in time for Melbourne.
“Between now and the first race we need to tidy up the cars as much as possible; get all the new parts on the cars that we have looked at during testing to get them into race specification. Obviously we still have a lot of work to do from these three tests because we’ve had three tests back-to-back and not had much chance to analyse the data and understand what has happened. So that is what will happen back at the factories; there will be an element of thinking about what has happened over these tests and taking using that information for the first race.”
Barcelona Testing, Day 2, 26/02/2008
26/02/08 19:14
Fernando Alonso, R28-03, 79 laps, 368 km, fastest
lap: 1’23.112
Nelson Piquet, R28-01, 45 laps, 209 km, fastest lap: 1’23.467
The ING Renault F1 Team remained at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona today to continue with its final week of pre-season testing. The day began with cloudy and cool conditions, but the sun came out in the afternoon allowing the team to continue with its preparations for the new season in ideal conditions.
The team was running two R28s with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet remaining in the cars for a second day. Having worked on race procedures and pit stops yesterday, the team switched its attention to working on the performance of the cars today.
Fernando spent the day running through an aero programme and tried various things with the car, while Nelson resumed the set-up work he had begun at the end of yesterday. Fernando completed a total of 79 laps while Nelson covered 45. For the final day tomorrow the team will make a final push in the last day of running and will continue practicing race procedures to be ready for the opening race of the season in three weeks time.
Fernando Alonso: “It was a good day, especially as it was dry for the whole day. We continued testing the latest parts and updates before Melbourne and it was a good time to check that everything is working well. We still need to find some performance in the car, but we have the potential and we just need to discover it. There is only one day of testing left, and we need to fully attack tomorrow to make the most of it.”
Nelson Piquet: “We did not complete as many laps as we would have liked, but it was still a productive day and we learnt some things in the morning and gathered some interesting data. As a rookie, time in the car is so valuable and everytime I drive the car I feel more and more comfortable. For sure it would be nice to have some more time to prepare for the first race, but we have made the most of the time we had available. We are back to race simulations tomorrow, and if we have time we will try and do some long runs.”
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “Good circuit conditions today, so we could get on with our programmes. We had some interesting stuff to try that had arrived from the factory and we go some good results from that. We also did some aerodynamic development and some chassis set-up work, which gave some positive results. So another good day’s work, and we’ll take that into tomorrow and continue with our preparations for the first race in Melbourne. ”
Nelson Piquet, R28-01, 45 laps, 209 km, fastest lap: 1’23.467
The ING Renault F1 Team remained at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona today to continue with its final week of pre-season testing. The day began with cloudy and cool conditions, but the sun came out in the afternoon allowing the team to continue with its preparations for the new season in ideal conditions.
The team was running two R28s with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet remaining in the cars for a second day. Having worked on race procedures and pit stops yesterday, the team switched its attention to working on the performance of the cars today.
Fernando spent the day running through an aero programme and tried various things with the car, while Nelson resumed the set-up work he had begun at the end of yesterday. Fernando completed a total of 79 laps while Nelson covered 45. For the final day tomorrow the team will make a final push in the last day of running and will continue practicing race procedures to be ready for the opening race of the season in three weeks time.
Fernando Alonso: “It was a good day, especially as it was dry for the whole day. We continued testing the latest parts and updates before Melbourne and it was a good time to check that everything is working well. We still need to find some performance in the car, but we have the potential and we just need to discover it. There is only one day of testing left, and we need to fully attack tomorrow to make the most of it.”
Nelson Piquet: “We did not complete as many laps as we would have liked, but it was still a productive day and we learnt some things in the morning and gathered some interesting data. As a rookie, time in the car is so valuable and everytime I drive the car I feel more and more comfortable. For sure it would be nice to have some more time to prepare for the first race, but we have made the most of the time we had available. We are back to race simulations tomorrow, and if we have time we will try and do some long runs.”
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “Good circuit conditions today, so we could get on with our programmes. We had some interesting stuff to try that had arrived from the factory and we go some good results from that. We also did some aerodynamic development and some chassis set-up work, which gave some positive results. So another good day’s work, and we’ll take that into tomorrow and continue with our preparations for the first race in Melbourne. ”
Barcelona Testing, Day 1, 25/02/2008
25/02/08 19:15
Fernando Alonso, R28-03, 79 laps, 368 km, fastest
lap: 1’23.021
Nelson Piquet, R28-01, 86 laps, 400 km, fastest lap: 1’23.609
The ING Renault F1 Team returned to Barcelona today to begin its final week of pre-season testing. The team was operating two R28s with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet on driving duty.
Members of the race team are in Barcelona this week as the team conducts its final rehearsal before travelling to the opening Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia in three weeks time. The team was therefore operating with a Grand Prix set-up and concentrated on running through race procedures.
Having endured wet conditions during the previous week, the team was again greeted by damp conditions this morning, and it was not until the middle of the morning that the team was able to switch to dry tyres. The team was still able to conduct race simulation work in the morning and ran through grid procedures as both drivers sampled the wet conditions early on.
For the afternoon, the conditions improved and the focus of the team shifted to pit-stop practice. In all close to 20 pit stops were carried out. The team will remain in Barcelona for the next couple of days to continue with preparations for the 2008 season.
Fernando Alonso: “We spent most of the day doing pit stop practice with the mechanics and everything went ok; no problems. It was important to do this to get everybody ready for the first race in Australia. The track was wet in the morning, just like last week, but it did not affect what we were working on and we are happy with the work we completed.”
Nelson Piquet: “Today was a chance for the team to try out its procedures and to prepare for the first race of the season. We did some wet-weather running in the morning, but it was all part of the simulation work we had planned and was mainly for the engineers to learn about strategy. We were only simulating procedures, so we were not really pushing that much today. Towards the end of the day we were able to do a little bit of work on the performance of the car and started looking at the set-up, which we will continue tomorrow.”
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “Obviously the weather was not great again, but it did not affect our programmes. We did some race simulation work in the morning, and pit-stop work in the afternoon, which was all fine. Towards the end of the day we managed to get out for a final run to get a feel for the balance of the car and that went well. So a good first day’s testing, which should put us in a good position to get on with the main programme tomorrow.”
Nelson Piquet, R28-01, 86 laps, 400 km, fastest lap: 1’23.609
The ING Renault F1 Team returned to Barcelona today to begin its final week of pre-season testing. The team was operating two R28s with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet on driving duty.
Members of the race team are in Barcelona this week as the team conducts its final rehearsal before travelling to the opening Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia in three weeks time. The team was therefore operating with a Grand Prix set-up and concentrated on running through race procedures.
Having endured wet conditions during the previous week, the team was again greeted by damp conditions this morning, and it was not until the middle of the morning that the team was able to switch to dry tyres. The team was still able to conduct race simulation work in the morning and ran through grid procedures as both drivers sampled the wet conditions early on.
For the afternoon, the conditions improved and the focus of the team shifted to pit-stop practice. In all close to 20 pit stops were carried out. The team will remain in Barcelona for the next couple of days to continue with preparations for the 2008 season.
Fernando Alonso: “We spent most of the day doing pit stop practice with the mechanics and everything went ok; no problems. It was important to do this to get everybody ready for the first race in Australia. The track was wet in the morning, just like last week, but it did not affect what we were working on and we are happy with the work we completed.”
Nelson Piquet: “Today was a chance for the team to try out its procedures and to prepare for the first race of the season. We did some wet-weather running in the morning, but it was all part of the simulation work we had planned and was mainly for the engineers to learn about strategy. We were only simulating procedures, so we were not really pushing that much today. Towards the end of the day we were able to do a little bit of work on the performance of the car and started looking at the set-up, which we will continue tomorrow.”
Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “Obviously the weather was not great again, but it did not affect our programmes. We did some race simulation work in the morning, and pit-stop work in the afternoon, which was all fine. Towards the end of the day we managed to get out for a final run to get a feel for the balance of the car and that went well. So a good first day’s testing, which should put us in a good position to get on with the main programme tomorrow.”