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8 April 2011 What we learned today?
Both cars encountered problems with their front
suspension uprights in the first free practice
session. After careful analysis, the team
identified a material defect linked to a
specific batch of components. For the afternoon
session, the team reverted to a different batch
and ran without any issues.
Alan Permane, Chief Engineer - Technical
programme notes
It was difficult to learn anything today. The
issues this morning limited our mileage in both
sessions and it’s difficult to draw too many
conclusions.
Due to the lack of running, neither driver was
able to make much progress with their set-up
programmes and we have a lot of work to do to
improve the handling.
James Allison, Technical Director
“Both Vitaly and Nick suffered failures under
braking in the front uprights early in the first
session. As a precaution we stopped running the
cars until we had understood the problem. We
quickly established that the two failed items
had come from the same material batch and that
nothing from this batch had run prior to today.
It took a little longer to rule out other
potential causes but once we were confident that
the failures were related to a material problem
we released the cars for the second half of
afternoon practice where they ran without
problem.”
Nick Heidfeld, R31-01
Free practice 1: P7, 1:40.525, 6 laps
Free practice 2: P8, 1:38.570, 16 laps
Nick: “Because of the issues this morning, we
didn’t run very much at all today. We therefore
had to prioritise what we did in the afternoon
and we felt it was best to do a long run on the
soft tyres. Although we didn’t do many laps, we
got some data and we learned a few things,
especially about the high degradation rate of
the softs. Considering that we did no real
set-up work today, it’s quite encouraging that I
was in the top ten in both sessions. We now have
to concentrate on making good progress in the
final practice session tomorrow morning.”
Vitaly Petrov, R31-03
Free practice 1: P24, 1:47.932, 4 laps
Free practice 2: P13, 1:39.267, 17 laps
Vitaly: “It wasn’t the best day. The problem in
the morning was quite a surprise and we decided
not to run until late in the afternoon when we
had understood things properly. When I did
finally get out, the car felt fine, but the time
we had was very limited and we didn’t really
manage to do any set-up work. As we expected,
the degradation rates are very high here,
especially for the soft tyres, but they
definitely had more grip and were a couple of
seconds quicker than the hard. However, tomorrow
is a new day and I think we can still have a
good weekend.” 9 April 2011 It was a
strong recovery from LRGP after the team showed
improvements in final practice before both
drivers qualified in the top eight.
• Nick qualified on third row (6th) and Vitaly
the fourth row (8th)
• Both drivers did one run for Q1, Q2 and Q3,
allowing tyres to be preserved for tomorrow’s
race
• The two cars ran on option tyres (soft for the
whole of qualifying) and times got faster in
each of the qualifying sessions
Nick Heidfeld, P6, R31-04, 1:36.124
“I’m very satisfied as I think it’s the maximum
we could have achieved, especially looking back
at Friday where we didn’t do many laps at all
and didn’t have a lot of time to set up the car.
It got faster and faster in qualifying today,
but I have to say in Q1 I took it easy then I
pushed a bit over the limit in Q2 and lost some
time there, but in Q3 I found the golden middle
and it was a good lap. Of course, I was a lot
happier with the traffic here than I was in
Australia.”
Vitaly Petrov, P8, R31-03, 1:36.324
“To get in the top ten today is a good result
considering the track time we lost yesterday. We
worked hard on improving the set-up in final
practice and in the end I had quite a good
feeling with the car. For the race, anything can
happen, but it’s clear that looking after the
tyres will be very important because the
degradation is very high here. We will also have
to watch what happens with the weather because
there is a high risk of rain. I don’t mind if
it’s wet or dry.”
James Allison, Technical Director: “We can
expect lots of pit action tomorrow”
James, sixth and eighth on the grid – surely
that was hard to predict this time yesterday?
We certainly had a troubled day yesterday, but
there was no reason to believe from yesterday’s
running that the car was struggling for pace so
it’s very nice to be sixth and eighth on the
grid, very nice to have both our cars in the top
ten only having had one in Melbourne.
Does today’s result put you in a strong position
for tomorrow?
It will do if we make a good start as both
drivers are already in points-scoring positions.
However, if we want to convert a promising
qualifying into something very good then we’re
going to have to do well in what is certainly
going to be an interesting race, whether that’s
with the risk of rain which is more than
moderate and also with the fact that there’s
going to be a flurry of pit-stopping.
How do you think the tyres will hold up
tomorrow, it what is likely to be wet
conditions?
That’s one of the things we have less of a
feeling for than maybe some of our competitors
because of yesterday’s compromised running.
However, from what little high fuel running we
did manage yesterday, we seemed to be alright
for our race pace even with a car balance which
was far from satisfactory. However, with the
balance we’ve achieved today, we believe the car
will run well on its tyres tomorrow. 10
April 2011 LRGP secured its second podium
in as many races to give the Enstone team a
flying start to the season
• Second podium in a row podium for LRGP
• Both drivers were on three stops: soft, soft,
hard, hard
• Vitaly went off track on lap 52, and after his
car hit the curb and took off, the steering
column mount broke when landing
• LRGP is now placed fourth in the Constructors’
Championship, 26 points ahead of nearest rival.
Nick Heidfeld, P3, R31-04
“I had a great start just like in Australia, and
did not expect to make up so many positions. I
moved up to P2, making up four places. After
that I did my best to follow Sebastian (Vettel)
but he was much quicker. Then, I noticed some
drops of rain and my tyres were going off but I
stayed out. I lost a couple of places at my
first pit stop, but it’s clear we had really
good pace and we were able to fight with the
cars ahead. I got lucky with Fernando (Alonso)
having a problem, but it was great fun fighting
and getting ahead of Lewis (Hamilton). In the
final few laps Mark (Webber) was close behind me
but we had the pace to stay ahead. It’s another
great result for Lotus Renault GP and it’s clear
the team has taken a big step forward this year.”
Vitaly Petrov, DNF, R31-03
“First of all I am happy for the team as we got
another podium, so we can consider this a great
start to the season for us. It was a strong
performance by the team in an unusual race. I
made a small mistake which shouldn’t have had
the consequences it had. I went wide and the car
took off on the curb, landing hard. Both cars
should have been in the points today, but the
good news is that we clearly have the pace
needed to compete this season.”
Eric Boullier, Team Principal and Managing
Director
“That was a tough race with a lot of pit stops,
a lot of strategy changes and honestly I don’t
believe everything was going according to plan
for anybody but as a team we reacted very
well.I’m pleased of course for Nick but I’m also
pleased for the whole team. It’s another great
reward for us, especially after the tough start
to the weekend. It’s good to be on the podium
again, although it is disappointing to have lost
one car with less than ten laps to go. There’s
no doubt the car is competitive although it is
not currently quick enough to be winning races.
So, we need to push hard on the development side,
but scoring two podiums in a row is definitely
very satisfying.”
James Allison, Technical Director
“We thought it was going to be a blizzard of pit
stops today, and so it turned out. It was a
fantastic performance from the team, slightly
lucky to get a podium but even without Alonso’s
incident it would have been a very well deserved
fourth place. Today’s result is fantastic for
all the team here at the track and back in the
factory. We’ve recovered from what was a very
inauspicious start to the weekend and to have
both cars run strongly in the race was great.
Our competitiveness over the weekend got
stronger and stronger. We’ve got plenty of work
to do before China but the car performed well
today and we can be pleased with that."
Ricardo Penteado, LRGP Engine Support Leader,
Renault Sport F1
“It’s a fantastic result for LRGP to have its
second consecutive podium. Congratulations to
Nick and the whole team. Today both drivers
drove a great race and it was a shame that
Vitaly could not give the team the double points
finish it deserved. Nick had an amazing start
and held off Mark Webber in the closing stages
under very heavy pressure. The result, and the
15 points it brings, shows just how well the
chassis and the RS27 package is working at the
moment. We didn’t have any issues from the
engine side; the cooling systems all worked very
well despite the high ambient heat and humid
conditions we saw today. The KERS system also
helped today and we’re pleased with the way
everything went.” |
