Reactions – Alonso and Piquet on track today

Renault was on track again today at the Jerez circuit as part of its winter development program. The team benefited from reasonable track conditions but had to adapt its program due to the strong gusts of wind that swept the Andalusian circuit today.

Based on his recent tests in Barcelona at the beginning of the month, Alonso today endeavored to improve the overall balance of his car through several setup trials. Although the Spaniard experienced delays in his program due to minor issues this morning, he was able to fully benefit from this afternoon’s work to try new elements.

Fernando Alonso: Like the other teams, we somewhat suffered today from the gusts of wind that kept sweeping the circuit. Despite everything, we tried to make the most of this day and were able to evaluate new parts that were not affected by the day’s conditions. We made good progress and will be able to switch to performance testing in the coming weeks.

Piquet, on the other side of the garage, began his second day of testing with setup trials before completing a series of longer runs in the afternoon. He also rehearsed various procedures he will soon need to perform in Melbourne, such as formation laps, starts, and other refueling simulations. The young Brazilian once again completed a particularly productive day with 110 laps covered, nearly 483 kilometers, and a time of 1’20.014.

Nelson Piquet: « We continued our tests that started yesterday, everything went well, despite the wind which certainly didn’t offer ideal track conditions. However, we completed many laps, including a new race distance. It’s important for me to do as much driving as possible to prepare for my first race, and I hope tomorrow to take full advantage of our last day of work here in Jerez. »

His Spanish teammate concluded his workout session at 5 p.m., the circuit’s closing time, and secured the fourth fastest time of the day with 1’19.710, completing 104 laps.

For the final day of testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit tomorrow, Renault is preparing to field two R28 chassis once again, driven by Nelson Piquet and his compatriot Lucas Di Grassi.

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: « We had to adapt our program due to the weather conditions. It was difficult to work on the car setup, especially this afternoon because of the wind. Nelson had a very productive day despite that, with setting up in the morning and a new race distance in the afternoon. Fernand experienced a few small issues at the start of the session, but everything went well afterwards. Given the track conditions, we also took advantage of this testing to work on the brakes, which proved to be interesting. »

According to the Renault F1 Team