Renault makes discoveries at Monza

Renault got its development programme under way again today on the Monza circuit in the north of Italy. While the priority was to prepare for the next two races on European soil, in particular the Italian GP, the team concentrated on the 2008 electronic set-up on its first day of testing.

Nelson Piquet at the wheel of the R27 went out without any driver aids to provide the team with his initial impressions. He did several runs - generally long ones - and concentrated on setting up the car in this configuration. The data recorded will be analysed by the team this evening, and again when it gets back to the factory in the framework of its 2008 project development programme. "The car was not really different; it was just a bit less predictable and slightly trickier to drive as it is less forgiving!" exclaimed Piquet Jr. "It's difficult to be consistent as the laps unfold but I think I got to grips with it fairly quickly. We've revised the braking load to adapt the car to 2008, and we concentrated on setting it up in this configuration. I think we've done a good day's work today with a lot of laps covered." Christian Silk, chief test engineer commented, "It was really heavy today at Monza. Our programme went off with any hitches, and we've recorded interesting data on our first day's testing in 2008 configuration. The car was reliable and the new on-board electronic systems worked without any problems so we managed to cover a lot of laps. In the late afternoon we began our preparation for next week's race as we're afraid that track conditions will disimprove from tomorrow onwards."