JANUARY 21, 2004

The new Renault is reliable

The new Renault R24 completed its second day of running in Barcelona in the hands of Jarno Trulli and the new car has completed around 350 miles in the course of the two days without any major technical problems.

The new Renault R24 completed its second day of running in Barcelona in the hands of Jarno Trulli and the new car has completed around 350 miles in the course of the two days without any major technical problems. The team was working on a basic set-up and said that it was running with high fuel loads. Fernando Alonso will get his first chance to try the car tomorrow, having spent tyhe last two days in the R23B. The only worrying matter is that the car is not very quick. In the course of the two days of running Trulli's best lap was a 1m17.046s. The Williams-BMWs are also running on high fuel loads and are getting down into the mid 1m15s. Alonso's best times in the old car have been high 1m15s, not far from the pace of the Williamses. At the moment however one should not write too much into the situation as no-one is quite sure who is running in what configuration. A true pattern of the relative performance of the new cars will probably not emerge for some time and Renault will be hoping that the new package is as competitive as the one used last year because, with the new engine regulations being as they are, there is no going back.