Assessment: A Result that Hurts for Renault

Renault had a disappointing Hungarian Grand Prix, as Fernando Alonso had to retire after leading the early part of the race, while his teammate Nelson Piquet finished 12th.

Attention now turns to the next Grand Prix, which will take place in Valencia in four weeks. The team also wishes Felipe Massa a speedy recovery after he was injured yesterday.

Fernando Alonso – Retirement:

« Today, we missed out on a possible podium. I had a good start and the car was fast during my first stint. However, the front right wheel wasn’t properly fixed during my stop. When I left the pits, I immediately felt a lot of vibrations and thought it was a puncture. Then, after a few laps, the wheel came off. I then returned to the garage to fix it, but when I got back on track, the fuel pump problem that appeared on the second lap worsened. So I had to retire. It’s really unfortunate to have missed this opportunity, but these types of issues happen in racing. I’m trying to stay positive by thinking that the car was very competitive this weekend. I’m looking forward to Valencia, and I hope I can succeed there. »

Nelson Piquet – 12th:

« I got off to a good start and overtook quite a few competitors, but I was immediately stuck behind another competitor, which penalized me for the rest of the race. I could have finished in a much better position if I hadn’t encountered so much traffic. I wasn’t lucky with my strategy today either. The car was good, however, and I’m glad I was able to benefit from the technical innovations this weekend. »

Pat Symonds – Executive Director of Engineering:

The weekend was promising but ended in a very disappointing manner. From the second lap, Fernando experienced a failure with his fuel pump. We then attempted to manually control the problem and lost a lot of time. We had to bring forward our refueling because of this, and unfortunately, a wheel was not properly secured. Ultimately, the faulty fuel pump led to Fernando’s retirement. As for Nelson, he knew his race would be difficult. He pushed until the end but couldn’t get into the points.

Remi Taffin – Track Coordinator Renault F1 Team:

« Fernando made an excellent start, probably the best of the year. He was very fast, the car was behaving normally, and the race looked promising: we were aiming for the podium. Unfortunately, a technical problem ended our hopes. It’s frustrating, but we once again validated the progress made over the past several weeks. Now, we focus on the European Grand Prix and hope to achieve a good result there. »

According to a statement from the Renault F1 Team