Thursday: Renault completes many laps and is optimistic

The Renault F1 Team completed its first day of work in Monaco with free practice, ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix without any particular problems. The French team focused on evaluating the tires and the behavior of the car over relatively long stints, generally between 5 and 12 laps.

The drivers, like the engineers, are facing grip issues due to an urban track that is always dirty at the start of the Grand Prix. Conditions are improving, and the French team remains optimistic for now. Piquet even has the luxury of outrunning, which is rare, his teammate during FP2.

Fernando Alonso – 9th and 11th:

(e) Monaco, on Thursday, is always more important for the drivers than for the engineers. The main thing for us, indeed, is to familiarize ourselves with the track, gain confidence in the car, and feel comfortable on the circuit. We completed a lot of laps today, and it was useful to me. I am satisfied with the car’s behavior. I think we are quite competitive here, but qualifying will be the key to the race. Our preparation today was aimed at getting the most out of the car on Saturday. »

Nelson Piquet – 12th and 10th:

« It always takes a few laps to get familiar with the Monaco track, and after this morning’s session, I was perfectly in the rhythm. The car performed well in both sessions, and we encountered no problems. This allowed us to complete a large number of laps. As always here, the track was very dirty this morning and improved throughout the day. This made our work on evaluating the tires and setup changes more delicate. Overall, I think we are in good shape for the rest of the weekend. »

Pat Symonds – Executive Director of Engineering

« A normal Thursday in Monaco. It is always very difficult to improve the car’s behavior because conditions change very quickly, that said, we seem rather competitive. The presence of many slower cars on the track did not allow us to achieve a good time, but that is not a problem. »