Friday: Renault will place its two cars in Q3 tomorrow

Renault completed its first day of work in Barcelona with free practice sessions, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. A rather good day as both drivers remained in the top 10 most of the time.

Fernando Alonso achieved a remarkable comeback from morning to afternoon, moving from 17th to 3rd position. The tires are once again at the center of discussions as the Spaniard lacked grip during the first session.

As for Nelson Piquet, he delivered very good performances throughout the entire day with 7th and 8th place. He was driving today with a fuel level used in qualifying, which seems to be paying off, to be confirmed tomorrow…

Fernando Alonso – 17th and 3rd:

« The free practice sessions today were interesting because we evaluated new developments that we introduced this weekend. We encountered some difficulties during the first free practice sessions because we lacked grip. This afternoon, however, we found effective solutions. We are therefore heading in the right direction and have improved our performance. Of course, as always on Friday, we need to stay realistic for tomorrow, but we are relatively confident. We can achieve a good performance in qualifying tomorrow. The goal remains the same this weekend: to score as many points as possible. »

Nelson Piquet – 7th and 8th:

« This day of free practice was relatively typical for a Friday in Barcelona. We evaluated new developments as well as the two types of tires at our disposal. I’m not quite satisfied yet with the car’s balance. Therefore, the priority tomorrow morning will be to work on this point to be ready for the qualifying session where, I hope, we will make it into the top 10. »

Pat Symonds – Executive Director of Engineering:

« Our program this Friday was quite normal. We evaluated both types of tires and didn’t encounter any huge surprises on that front: the hard tires require more time to reach their optimal operating temperature, while the soft tires provide good immediate performance. We didn’t encounter any particular issues with the car today, but we are not yet fully satisfied with the balance we’ve found. »

According to a statement from the Renault F1 Team