The Renaults stuck in traffic during their flying lap in EL2

The team Renault Did she try, by mistake, to solve the quadrature of the diamond?

Free Practice 2 could potentially determine the starting grid for the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday in the event of cancellation of qualifying due to Typhoon Hagibis, the French manufacturer wanted to wait until the last moments of the session to tackle the clock, taking advantage of increased grip on the track.

It was bad for him since Daniel Ricciardo et Nico Hulkenberg did not have a clear path to sign a clear turn. Their rivals actually chose to take a time in the middle of the session before focusing on their race simulation.  

« Our attempt was not at the same tempo as the others, said the German on Friday evening in the Suzuka paddock. We wanted to chase the time with little fuel at the end of the session because we thought that the track would then be more conducive to this type of performance after the rubber deposit left by everyone.

But the others were doing long stints and we didn't manage to set a time because we kept running into traffic. If qualifying does not take place on Sunday morning, we will be very seriously handicapped for the race ».

If Hülkenberg believes that the R.S.19 was better than the 17th and 18th times intrinsically, he is not convinced that he would have been able to compete for the Top 10 on a regular basis.

« It was a complicated day overall; the balance was not there on the car, he added, almost resigned. It lacked harmony ».

His teammate Daniel Ricciardo also recognizes that Carlos Sainz, best of the others with 7th place at the wheel of his McLaren, was undoubtedly out of reach but the Australian thinks that the Renault have the means to snatch a place in Q3. There still needs to be a Q3…

Otherwise, it would still be another unfortunate mistake for the Yellow-and-Blacks during a season that is decidedly not simple at all.