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Fernando Alonso, R28-03
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Nelson Piquet, R28-01
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Free Practice 1: P6, 1:28.360, 22 laps
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Free Practice 1: P18, 1:30.357, 21 laps
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Free Practice 2: P13, 1:28.779, 37 laps
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Free Practice 2: P19, 1:29.518, 14 laps
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The
ING Renault F1 Team had a mixed start to this weekend’s Australian
Grand Prix, the opening race of the 2008 season held in Melbourne’s
Albert Park.
Both Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet completed some set-up work
and tyre evaluation, but a spin for Nelson towards the end of the
opening session left the team on the back foot and limited Nelson’s
running. He was still able to complete 35 laps and learnt the layout of
the track. Fernando enjoyed a trouble-free day, covering 59 laps while
improving the balance of the car, but a busy track prevented him from
showing the car’s true potential on new tyres. The team now turns its
attention to Saturday’s qualifying session to secure the best grid
positions for the race.
Fernando Alonso
This first day has been
very hot and very windy, but the conditions were the same for everyone.
For the first day of work we worked on the set-up of the car and we
made good progress, but we still have to improve the stability of the
car under braking and its overall balance. So we must still find some
performance, but I am optimistic for the rest of the weekend.
Nelson Piquet
That was not how I
imagined my first day of work would be, and we would have liked to have
made more progress. I made a mistake in the first session which caused
some damage to my gearbox and meant the team had to do some work on my
car between the two sessions. But I was able to get my first feelings
for the track and I hope to make a bigger contribution tomorrow. I know
that I have a lot to learn, but I was able to get more comfortable with
each lap, and that is what I am going to continue to do throughout the
weekend.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
A
difficult start to our season. Nelson spun in the first session and our
analysis showed there could be damage to the gearbox, so we had to
change that, which resulted in him being out late for the second
session. He was really on his back foot from there onwards. With
Fernando we covered a good number of laps and completed a sensible
programme. We made some improvements on the balance, but as always
there is more to do. We feel there is a little bit more potential in
the car as the two runs on new tyres were spoilt by traffic. But
overall it looks like we are in with the big pack.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
If
you look at both the sessions it seems that the four favourites that
emerged during the winter have confirmed their position today. From our
point of view, the day was somewhat disappointing because we designed
our programme to give Nelson the most time on track possible, but in
the end that did not turn out to be the case, which is a shame on a
circuit that is difficult to learn and master. We will try to make the
most of the last practice session tomorrow to approach the qualifying
session in the best shape possible.
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