Barcelona Test Session, Day 1

The Renault F1 Team started its final pre-season test session in Barcelona today with Vitaly Petrov behind the wheel of the R30.

Circuit: Barcelona

Length: 4.6 km

Driver: Vitaly Petrov

Chassis: R30-03

Total Laps: 74 laps

Fastest Lap: 1:24.173

Summary of the day: Bright conditions in Barcelona allowed the team to complete a busy day of work. The programme included practice pit stops in the morning and set-up work in the afternoon.

Vitaly Petrov: “The track conditions were pretty good today and it was nice not to have to drive in the rain! The day went quite well and we did a lot of pit-stop practice to begin with and then some set-up work, which was useful.”

Alan Permane, Chief Engineer: “We spent part of the morning doing pit-stop practice with Vitaly, which went very well. This was the first chance for our pit crew to practice with a running car at the circuit without refuelling and there were no procedural problems. Unfortunately we had a hydraulic problem in the early afternoon, which meant we had to change part of the hydraulic system and that limited our running. But we were still able to do some set-up work as we concentrated on getting Vitaly comfortable in the car on this circuit.”

Barcelona Test Schedule 26-28 February:
Friday 26 February: Robert Kubica
Saturday 27 February: Vitaly Petrov
Sunday 28 February: Robert Kubica