Saturday Summary – In one word for Renault: “disappointing”

Renault doesn’t hide it, the performance in qualifying today is more than disappointing and overall it hasn’t been a good day. The team did not manage to get into Super-Qualifying with Kovalainen, while Fisichella didn’t even fight to get into Q2…

Kovalainen is all the more disappointed because a few seconds before the end of Q2, he could have taken part in the battle for pole position thanks to a fast lap, but in the final corner, he went too wide and lost the time needed to qualify.

Tomorrow, the team wants to do their best to make a comeback and is counting heavily on rainy conditions to replicate last week’s feat in Japan.

Heikki Kovalainen – 8th and 14th

« My last lap could have clearly been better: I made a small mistake in turn number 13 by going a bit wide before the long straight; I had to attack very hard in turn number 16 because it was my last chance to set a good time. I tried to keep the speed, and it didn’t work, I went too wide, and that was it for my lap. It was very close for me this afternoon to get into the Top 10, but to do that, I had to be on the limit everywhere, and unfortunately, that small mistake cost me a lot. The times are very tight, and I think teams opted for different approaches in terms of setup, even though the top speeds are very close; maybe the difference isn’t that significant in the end. The car was relatively neutral in terms of balance for me, we just lacked speed today. We now have to wait and see what will happen tomorrow. »

Giancarlo Fisichella – 17th and 18th

« It’s been a very disappointing and frustrating session as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been struggling with the car since Friday morning and we only made progress in the right direction at the end of the third session this morning. So I went into this qualifying relatively unprepared. Then, when we fitted the soft tires, I experienced graining at the end of my lap. I made a mistake in the last corner, which cost me two tenths and prevented me from progressing further. All we can do now is see if tomorrow’s conditions can turn in our favor. »

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering

« Giancarlo [Fisichella] has been struggling with a problem on the car since the beginning of the weekend, and we only managed to resolve the situation shortly before qualifying. As a result, he lost a lot of working time in practice, and on a circuit where the R27 does not perform as well as we would have liked, this is important! At the start of qualifying, we realized it would be tight for Heikki to qualify, and we had to take more risks than usual with the car. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and neither of our cars managed to enter the final phase of qualifying. All local weather forecasts are predicting heavy rain tomorrow, which always shakes things up. Despite this, the positions we find ourselves in are far from satisfactory! »

Denis Chevrier, Head of On-Track Engine Teams

Qualifying 14th and 18th is a real disappointment that we must attribute primarily to our lack of performance today. While the morning practice suggested that Heikki could aim for a place in the Top 10, the level of competitiveness in the pack clearly showed that this would ultimately not be the case. Of course, we are aware that the rain could play a big role tomorrow as the forecasts tend to announce a race in wet conditions. But our result today has certainly not made our job easier for tomorrow’s race!