Renault making progress as they top times

Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso were in action at Barcelona with the R24 today, the first verdict on the new engine and chassis developments. Alonso topped the timesheets before the session was through with Trulli close behind in third overall.

On his way to the top of the leaderboard, Alonso conducted set-up work with the R24, experimenting with new settings and finding some useful steps forward. The Spaniard also conducted a short compound tyre test, but did not find any progress. He completed a total of 101 laps for the day a total of 468 km’s.

Trulli tested the new aerodynamic package, which performed as expected. However, he was unable to complete any timed laps during the afternoon session owing to a hydraulic problem on chassis 05. He also ran the new specification engine, and found it represented a good improvement over its predecessor. He totalled 55 laps for the day, a total of 255 km’s.

"Overall, we had a reasonable first day in Barcelona. The new developments ran without problems on Jarno's car, and performed as we had predicted. We will continue to learn about them during the rest of the week,” said Pat Symonds. “Tomorrow, both drivers will run the new engine specification: Jarno will complete a race distance, while Fernando will concentrate on tyre and set-up work."