Saturday: The Renault team gave it their all!

Renault participated today in the thirteenth qualifying session of the 2009 World Championship. Fernando Alonso qualified in 8th position while Romain Grosjean will start from 12th place for tomorrow’s race.

The positions of the drivers between the last practice session in the morning and the qualifying session are strikingly similar. It was a good last practice session this morning with the 8th and 11th fastest times achieved by Alonso and Grosjean. In the afternoon, the qualifying session was extremely close, to the point that the Frenchman narrowly missed participating in Q3. A small mistake prevented him. The Spaniard, on his part, was just a whisker away from 5th place. All hopes are allowed for tomorrow’s race since both R29s have KERS.

Fernando Alonso – 8th and 8th:

« We had some doubts about the possibility of reaching Q3 this morning, so we are pleased to have made it. It’s good for us. We narrowly missed 4th or 5th place. I hope to get a good start tomorrow and gain positions thanks to my KERS system. »

Romain Grosjean – 11th and 12th:

Today, I achieved my best result in qualifying. I would have liked to get into Q3, but I have to put things into perspective because a 12th place on the grid is a good performance. Tomorrow, the KERS system can help us at the start. If I can cross the finish line in the top 10, I will be satisfied. If I got into the points, I would be very happy.

Pat Symonds – Executive Director of Engineering:

« Today, we had a very exciting session. Fernando is in 8th place, but he is 60 thousandths of a second short of 5th place. It is clear that many teams have chosen a one-stop strategy, and success will depend on tire management. Romain was unlucky not to make it into Q3. His lap seemed good but he made a small mistake that set him back by two tenths. We should have a good race tomorrow. »

According to a statement from the Renault F1 Team