RENAULT SPORT F1 HUNGARY FRIDAY REPORT

PRESS RELEASE/Renault Sport – Photo: Renault Media

Renault Sport Formula One Team enjoyed a productive day on one side of the garage with an interrupted day on the other side as Carlos Sainz set the eighth fastest time on Friday, a 1min 18.495secs at a scorching hot Hungaroring, as the Formula 1 Rolex Magyar Nagydíj weekend got underway.

Carlos ran without issue through both sessions, whilst Nico suffered from an electrical shutdown on his car part way through FP1, with the resultant Energy Store replacement eating into his FP2 session.

Alan Permane, Sporting Director – Technical programme notes 
• In FP1, Nico ran with Ultrasoft (purple) Pirelli tyres and aero rakes to conduct front and chassis wing comparisons. His car shutdown after 14 laps, meaning it was recovered to the garage and an Energy Store change was made. 
• Carlos also conducted front wing comparisons for data logging in FP1, running with the Ultrasoft tyres for 32 laps.
• Nico joined FP2 part way through with a replaced Energy Store and ran with the Ultrasoft and then Medium (white) compound tyres. 
• Carlos ran with the Soft (yellow) and Ultrasoft tyres in FP2.

What we learned today: 
• We have a solid basis for the rest of the weekend.

Nico Hülkenberg, #27, R.S.18-02
Free practice 1: P8, 1:19.025, 14 laps
Free practice 2: P14, 1:18.913, 23 laps

Nico: “We missed quite a lot of running today, which never helps the cause. We were reasonable out of the box in the morning but the car just shut down with no warning. Once the Energy Store was changed I was able to get out in the afternoon, but obviously my programme was very different from that intended. On the plus side, we were still in the top ten at the end of FP1, so it wasn’t all bad. Looking at the other side of the garage there doesn’t look to be any major concerns so I’m hoping for a better day tomorrow.”

Carlos Sainz, #55, R.S.18-03
Free practice 1: P9, 1:19.128, 32 laps 
Free practice 2: P8, 1:18.495, 38 laps

Carlos: “It was good to get out on this track and the car was feeling pretty decent. We ran through the usual programme, and were able to make positive progress. As usual, we identified what we need to do to improve the car and I’m particularly looking forward to tomorrow.”

Nick Chester, Technical Director, Chassis: “Nico lost some track time with the Energy Store change, but aside from that it was reasonably straightforward for us. Carlos had a decent day, on the pace in both sessions and with good feedback for us to work on in terms of setup. Nico missed a lot of running today but was on the pace in FP1 and we know that’s something he can bounce back from very easily.”

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