Renault at ease on soft tires in Barcelona

Friday in Catalonia did not start in the best way for Renault Sport F1 Team. Sergey Sirotkin, lined up on the RS17 in FP1 in place of Jolyon Palmer, saw his progress slowed down by a water leak, with only ten laps covered by the Russian driver.

A second appearance hardly more satisfactory after the setbacks in Sochi, already in free practice 1 (hydraulic problem and a completed lap). However, it is the satisfaction that predominates within the French team this Friday evening, after the 7th and 8th times of Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer in free practice 2.

Renault prefers soft rubber

With its hardest range brought to Spain, Pirelli made a very conservative selection on a track known to be demanding for tires. The hardness of the compounds did not make Renault's task easier this morning, unlike the soft tires, one of the essential factors in the good performance of the yellow cars in FP2.

“We struggled more in the morning to find rhythm on the harder compounds which were not particularly favorable to the balance of our cars. » recognizes Bob Bell, Director of Technology.

“The car offers much better sensations on soft tires, indicates for his part Jolyon Palmer, who was only able to play on medium and soft tires. The balance was not ideal in mediums. »

Having already entered the top 10 in EL1, Nico Hülkenberg did it again later in the day, admitting his surprise at the performance achieved in Spain. “We really had to fight to find grip today, admits the winner of 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see us display such a relative pace. If we can translate that into tomorrow and into the race, it could be a good weekend. »