|
8 April 2011 Davide Valsecchi: "It was
nice, so nice and such a good feeling to be in
the car here in Malaysia. My lap times weren't
incredible as I had a bit of an issue on the
last run, so I didn't have the chance to test
the car with the different tyre set up which
would have given better times. It's hot and a
bit humid, which never makes it that easy, but
the track was fine. The car felt really good but
with the limited time I had it was important to
take it easy and not push the car to the limit.
Heikki gets back in this afternoon and I'm sure
he and Jarno will do a good job for the team, so
let's hope for a good race this weekend."
Jarno Trulli (car 21): "We managed to get
through most of the program but the fact the
traffic held up my quickest lap I think masks
how we're really looking in outright pace. It's
a bit tough as we have had a great build-up to
the race here, and the support we have had from
the fans and the media in Malaysia has been just
great, so we'll work hard to make sure we put on
a good performance tomorrow and on Sunday."
Heikki Kovalainen (car 20): "That was just one
of those days. I went out in the second session
and felt something go at the rear so came
straight back in. It looks like a differential
problem and despite the fact the guys worked
really hard to try and get me back out the time
beat us. However, we'll work on it overnight,
and on the data Davide and Jarno have collected
today and get back on with it tomorrow."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader:
"I think we have done a good job today. We have
learnt a lot about the engine behaviour here at
Sepang and that puts us in a good position for
qualifying and the race. We have completed a lot
of work on the qualification maps and we have
had some good feedback from the drivers on that
part of the program. With all of this in mind I
think we will be able to extract more
performance from the engine in qualifying
tomorrow so we'll look to confirm that in FP3."
Mike Gascoyne: "Today really was a day of two
halves. This morning we had a pretty good
session, with Davide having his first run in the
car here at Sepang and he did a good job for the
team, although his last run was cut a bit short.
With Jarno we tried both the hard tyre and the
development tyre and have good feedback on both.
This afternoon we had what looks like a
differential problem on Heikki's car which meant
his afternoon was cut short, so apologies to him
for that. With Jarno we managed to complete most
of the program, despite changing his power
steering, but unfortunately when he was on the
soft tyres traffic held him up which meant he
wasn't able to extract the maximum speed from
the car. Despite this it is clear that the pace
of the car is closer to the midfield than we
were in Melbourne and now the onus is on us to
make sure the reliability issues are solved and
give the drivers a chance to show what the car
can really do."
Tony Fernandes: "The day started very well off
track, with the announcement that Dell has
upgraded their relationship with us to become an
official Technical Partner. When a company of
the stature of Dell wants to increase their
partnership with us it is a clear sign that we
are going in the right direction, so that was
very positive. On track it was a day of mixed
fortunes. It started well but ended up fairly
mediocre, but there are still many positives
that have come out of today. If Jarno had not
had traffic issues we would have been much
closer to being able to show our true pace than
we were in Melbourne and even though we keep
being dogged by reliability issues we are still
very excited about the weekend ahead and what
will happen in qualifying tomorrow." 9
April 2011 Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20: "That
was a great session for us and I'm really
pleased with how we've performed. After
yesterday, I didn't really know what to expect
going into today's sessions but the guys have
done a great job to give me a car that is
totally different to yesterday. As soon as I
went out on track this morning I could feel
there was a huge improvement in every area and
we have had no reliability issues at all today
so I was able to really push. I've enjoyed the
whole day and I felt like I was able to get the
best out of the car in all the runs. There's
still a bit more to come so I think tomorrow
will be a really interesting race for us,
particularly when you see how close we are to
the midfield, and with the pace we know the car
has in race trim."
Jarno Trulli, Car 21: "Today's performance is
obviously a lot more positive for the whole
team. We had no issues with the car in either
session and I think we got pretty close to
showing what the car can really do. FP3 was very
useful and we have also taken some good data
from qualifying itself as we tried to get the
best out of the car. The plan for tomorrow is to
keep consistent and reliable, take our chances
when they come and be there at the end. It is a
long and very hot race where anything can happen
but I think we are ready for it, so let's see
how it goes."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader:
"That was a much more solid performance from the
whole team, particularly compared to Melbourne
where we were not able to show the true pace of
the car. We have looked strong all day,
especially in qualifying, and I think that we
have found improvements in a number of areas
that have contributed to the step forward today
- cooling, engine mapping and the car behaviour
in general, I think this is a good result all
round. The improvements are very encouraging for
us and I think that seeing it here at Sepang is
particularly pleasing as it is tough on
everyone's engines, so for us that goes down as
a good day."
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A very
very good day for the team, however we are left
feeling a little disappointed because we felt we
had a real chance of getting into Q2. We had no
problems on the cars at all today which meant we
were able to show the true level of performance
that we had seen in winter testing, and
ultimately we were very close to Q2 on merit.
The drivers did a great job and the whole team
has worked very hard to turn everything around
from yesterday, and from Melbourne.
"In Heikki's last run he made a couple of small
mistakes and we could have been even closer, but,
looking at the positives, we are all looking
forward to the race tomorrow. Tyre degradation
will be very important here - it will be an
interesting Sunday for the whole grid and at
last we have a car with which we can go and take
the fight to the midfield."
Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "Words cannot
express how happy and overjoyed I am right now.
To see 18 months of hard work come good with us
finishing within a couple of tenths of teams
that have been around for a long time, and less
than a second away from the midfield pack, that
is an amazing achievement. It is made even more
satisfying after what has been a pretty hard
winter test program, taking on the issues we
have been working through and, honestly, not a
great start to the season - but this is a great
feeling. Both Heikki and Jarno know there's more
to come from the car, and we feel good about the
race this weekend. The aim is to keep our
reliability and bring two cars home. I am really
proud of the team, particularly after such a
hard winter, so I take my hat off to every
single one of them for keeping up the progress
and helping us reach where we are today."
10 April 2010 Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20
- qualified 19th, finished 15th: "That was a
pretty good race all round. The balance was good
on both sets of tyres and I think the strategy
worked well for us - we pitted at the right
times and we didn't have any problems all
afternoon. I think we can be pleased that after
a difficult Friday we showed the sort of
performance that the winter tests had given us
hope we could do so now it's about continuing
development of the car and keeping up the
pressure on the guys ahead. China will be a good
test of how the car behaves in cooler conditions
so the goal will be to repeat this kind of
performance there and keep on pushing."
Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - qualified 20th, DNF: "Unfortunately
a clutch problem brought my race to an early end
which is pretty bad luck as we were looking ok
at our home grand prix. I had a tricky start
with the anti-stall kicking in but I recovered
and then after the first pitstop I locked a
front wheel coming out and had to make up ground
again. I got past Timo but then the clutch gave
up, which is a shame as we looked like we have
started to show what the car is really made of."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader:
"It was a good day today, especially for the
overall package of the car. Although only one
car came home at the end of the race, it was a
good result as engine wise it was not easy this
weekend - this track is particularly hard on
engines due to the very high temperatures so
overall we are pretty pleased. We fixed the
issues we had on Friday and we are going in the
right direction. We have had some great feedback
from the drivers this weekend and I am sure we
will find some more lap time next week, and
looking ahead to China we will be able to make
some positive changes based on the results we
have from here."
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A very
strong race from both drivers although
unfortunately Jarno stopped in the garage with a
clutch sensor problem. We looked to do a two
stop strategy with both cars. We might have
struggled with Jarno as his tyre degradation was
slightly higher, but it worked well with Heikki.
Overall our pace was very good at the end,
particularly when we were with the leading cars,
and we were very close to passing one of the
Torro Rossos as we came over the line which
shows how we have progressed. This weekend has
been by far our strongest race performance since
we came back into Formula One, so it is good to
be racing again."
Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "Well I think we
can officially say we were racing today! It was
a real shame about Jarno as I really wanted two
cars to come home but Heikki drove a fantastic
race and was really pushing the Toro Rossos in
the final few laps - maybe with a couple more
laps he would have passed one of them. He kept
pace with cars that were much faster than us
during qualifying so I'm thrilled that we have
recorded 15th at what was a very tough circuit,
so huge congratulations to the whole team and
well done to everyone." |
