Renault makes its mark

Like many drivers, the men of the French team spent Thursday, with two free practice sessions, taming the trajectories of the principality's circuit. A day to “feel” the demanding Monegasque route, as confirmed Fernando Alonso : " The important thing for us, in fact, is to be able to familiarize ourselves with the circuit, find confidence in the car and feel comfortable on the track. We completed a lot of laps today and it was useful for me. I am satisfied with the behavior of the car. » But after sessions that were not necessarily significant in terms of times, the Spaniard is already looking towards the next day of racing. “ I think we're pretty competitive here, but qualifying will be the key to the race. Our preparation today was aimed at getting the best out of the car on Saturday. »

Nelsinho Piquet judges this Thursday in the same way, intended to put the drivers in the best position for qualifying on Saturday. “ It always takes a few laps to get to grips with the Monaco track and after this morning's session I was fully on the pace. The car performed well in both sessions and we encountered no problems. This allowed us to complete a large number of laps. »

The Brazilian, however, regrets that the team?s work has been partially curtailed by the state of the circuit. “ As always here, the track was very dirty this morning and it improved throughout the day. This made our work of evaluating tires and setting changes more difficult. Overall I think we are in good shape for the rest of the weekend. » The two pilots Renault will therefore be hoping to secure Q3 on Saturday, having finished this Thursday between 9th and 12th place.