Renault Sport Formula One Team completed the second day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with a revised run plan seeing Carlos Sainz in the Renault R.S.18 for both morning and afternoon.
Carlos completed 65 laps with a best time of 1min 21.212secs, the fifth fastest time of the day. Once again, running was affected by cold weather, with yesterday’s rain giving way to the occasional appearance of snowflakes at the 4.7km track.
Fast Facts:
- Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, 4.7km.
- Chassis: R.S.18 – 01.
- Weather: Cold. Ambient 3°C – 7°C Track 4°C – 10°C.
- Programme: Set-up evaluations.
- Laps Completed: 65.
- Classification: 5, 1:21.212.
- Interruptions: Increment weather avoidance.
Carlos Sainz: “It was even colder than yesterday and I’m not sure how we managed to complete as many laps as we did! In the end we completed 65, which was good training for my neck and body even if the conditions weren’t too useful for developing the car. It’s difficult to give too many impressions of the R.S.18 as today was not representative of the weather we should face at a Grand Prix. Next week better conditions are forecast so then we can work on evaluating performance.”
Alan Permane, Sporting Director: “It’s been particularly cold today which affected our run plan. As Nico achieved a good tally of laps yesterday morning, we opted to run Carlos all day today. The cold weather means running is less valuable in terms of working on car set-up as it’s difficult to get the tyres to get into and stay in their operating range, but nevertheless we were able to complete a number of other aspects of our programme.”
What’s Next? Nico should take to the car tomorrow morning, handing over at lunchtime to Carlos for afternoon duties.