Friday: Renault adheres strictly to its program

The Renault team started its fourth Grand Prix of the 2009 season in a very usual manner. Despite extreme temperature conditions, the diamond focused on analyzing the tires and the behavior of the car during braking.

Fernando Alonso had the R29-03, 3rd specification with a more advanced double-channel diffuser than on his teammate Nelson Piquet Junior’s R29-01.

The single-seater behaved as expected and no reliability issues are to be reported, except for some chipping of the paint… Very clear in the photos, the R29 is losing pieces of its bodywork around the exhaust outlets, where the temperature is highest.

Regarding the qualifications, Alonso is optimistic and aims for Q3, whereas Piquet thinks he might struggle to make it into the top 10.

Fernando Alonso – 18th and 2nd:

« It was very hot today and, even in Malaysia, the track temperature wasn’t as high. We validated our brake cooling setup and evaluated both types of tires to ensure everything works well in these specific conditions. We are satisfied with the work done and have reviewed our entire program. »

Nelson Piquet – 13th and 15th:

« A good start to the weekend for me. I was able to use the new diffuser for the first time today, although it is still difficult to quantify its contribution. I think we still need to improve the car’s behavior ahead of the third practice session, but we have collected some interesting data. I hope to have a solid qualifying session tomorrow, but I think it will be difficult to get into the top 10. »

Pat Symonds – Executive Director of Engineering

« The Bahrain circuit is the first track this season that is so demanding in terms of braking. With this concern in mind, we spent time today with a higher fuel load than usual, in order to focus on our setup for Sunday. Later in the session, we delivered more competitive performances. As always on a Friday, the timesheet doesn’t exactly reflect the true hierarchy, but we believe we have made good progress since the start of the season.

According to a press release from the Renault F1 Team