Disapointment for Renault at Sepang

By role
March 21 2004

It was a disapointing day for Renault today as both cars finished away from the podium today. Jarno Trulli could not capitalize on his better grid position and finished a disapointed 5th. He had once again problems on his car and he could not keep the pace for most of the race.

Alonso was able to do a great start and was running 10th on the second lap after starting 19th. He was able to move up to 6th by the second pit stop but a wrong strategy saw him finish 7th after he was filled up in the second and last stop.

Flavio Briatore was not happy at the end of the day:

"It is a disappointing result for us after we had expected to fight at the front here in Malaysia. When Fernando was stuck in the pack, we decided to change his strategy but unfortunately, the result didn't match up to our expectations. As for Jarno, he had an eventful race and he fought well for his fifth place. The team worked very well all weekend, and we will learn from our mistakes in order to achieve our full potential in Bahrain in two weeks' time."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
"Both cars made good progress early in the race, climbing quickly through the field. Jarno found himself among very competitive opposition, and when everybody is running similar strategies, it is hard to be creative. Fernando soon found himself among potentially slower cars and we decided to change to a two-stop strategy to try and help him past them. Unfortunately, this didn't work, but neither did he lose any positions."

Trulli was, however, pleased to have both cars on the points again.

"It's a satisfying result, given that I started eighth and all our competitors were very strong today. I got a very good start, but must apologise to Jenson: I touched his car on the way to the first corner. I had a good battle with him and Rubens in the first stint, very clean, and I was enjoying the race. However, after my first stop, the front tyres started graining, and I lost time in the second and third stints relative to my closest rivals. The car was understeering a lot during this part of the race. Having said that, we were reliable and once again have two cars in the points: we can't be too disappointed." Said the Italian.

Alonso commented after the race that saw him finish 7th:

"I am pleased to score two points after what happened yesterday. Obviously, everything changed for us after qualifying and in that perspective this is a pretty positive result. However, our strategy didn't really work out and I think I could have finished even higher up. The car was competitive, but quite tricky to drive: the balance wasn't particularly good during the race. It is always difficult here in Malaysia, and our mistakes during the weekend didn't make life any easier. But when you finish seventh after starting last, things could be worse." Said the Spaniard.

Pat Symonds, the person in charge of the strategy of the team was also not pleased:

"Both cars made good progress early in the race, climbing quickly through the field. Jarno found himself among very competitive opposition, and when everybody is running similar strategies, it is hard to be creative. Fernando soon found himself among potentially slower cars and we decided to change to a two-stop strategy to try and help him past them. Unfortunately, this didn't work, but neither did he lose any positions." Said The Briton who forgets that when Alonso pitted, on the same lap than Coulthard he was running 6th ahead of the Scot and only 4 seconds away from Trulli.

The two stop strategy was a clear mistake that costed Alonso some important points. If the Spaniard was clear on Saturday putting the blame on himself for spinning in the qualification. the person in charge of the strategy should do likewise when his wild ideas flop.