Renault happy to finish without damages!

By role
May 20 2004

The Renault F1 team has finished the first day of practice ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix in a positive note. In a track well known to be unforgiving with driver mistakes both Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso have completed a good number of laps without any problems.

Trulli finished the day on 4th position on the timesheet with a best time of 1.15.472:

“I had a normal Friday, working to set up the car and complete our programme. We accomplished a lot, and improved the handling, although there is still work to do in this area. We know the car is quick here, and now have to find a set-up we are completely happy with. I am glad to have come through the day without any problems, and feel optimistic for the rest of the weekend." The Italian said.

Alonso finished with the 9th best time after 28 laps:

“Our priority today was choosing the tyres, and we did this without any problems. The car balance is OK at the moment - we don't have any big problems, just some areas to carry on tuning. I am happy with our speed at the moment, and am looking forward to Saturday." He said.

Executive Director of Engineering, was satisfied with the session and happy to report no damage in any of the cars:

"It is always nice to complete the first day at Monaco without any damage, but the nature of this circuit means that, as usual, we are left with more questions than answers this evening. Having said that, on a circuit not conducive to finding a good balance, the drivers were reasonably happy today. Our times look competitive, and the tyre choice to be made is clear." He said.

Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations, was happy that the cars had been able to run different programs during the session:

"A trouble-free first day, during which we had the dual objectives of completing sizeable programmes and coming through the first two sessions without incident. We achieved both of these, and have done enough to work to collect the data we wanted while making a competitive start to the weekend. The constantly evolving track conditions make ultimate lap times difficult to judge, but there is no reason to think we will not be among the front runners once more this weekend." He added.