Some ‘small’ technical issues for the Renault team

Renault was back on track today at the Jerez circuit in the south of Spain to continue its preparations for the 2009 season. With just under a month to go before the official start of the 2009 season at the Albert Park circuit for the Australian Grand Prix, the team began a new testing session, continuing its winter development program.

The team’s main driver, Brazilian Nelson Piquet, was behind the wheel of the R29 today for this first day of testing.

The team benefited from good conditions despite a gloomy weather and a very light rain in the early afternoon, but the track remained dry.

Despite a few technical issues that somewhat limited track time, Nelson had a good day of work. He focused on evaluating new parts and on tuning, completing 52 laps.

Nelson will be on the track again tomorrow for a second day of work before giving way to Fernando Alonso, who will continue testing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Nelson Piquet said: « We had some technical issues with the car today, which slightly limited my track time but we were able to try new parts. The track conditions improved during the day because there were many cars on the circuit. These conditions should continue to improve throughout the week. For tomorrow, the priority will be to cover as many kilometers as possible. The weather should be the same as today, so we hope to benefit from the same track conditions. »

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer added: « It was a fairly difficult day. Some minor technical issues limited the number of kilometers we were able to accumulate today. Therefore, we couldn’t do as much setup work, but the engineers still recorded interesting data that we will analyze tonight. The priority for the rest of the week is to cover as many kilometers as possible and work on the setup. »

According to a statement from the Renault F1 Team