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Contents |
January 2003 News 23rd
January 2003: On-track launch of the R23 at Paul Ricard The second stage of the Renault F1 Team’s launch of
the new R23 was conducted today at the Circuit Paul Ricard (France). In front
of 600 members of the international press, Renault subsidiaries and Team
partners, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso completed several laps of the
circuit in the new car, marking the beginning of the Team’s latest challenge
in the 2003 World Championship. The objectives for the season ahead are clear. “Today, we are ready to
step up a level”, announced Patrick Faure,
Chairman of the Renault F1 Team. “Our wish is to get closer to McLaren
and Williams on the track. We are also looking for four podiums this year.
These are ambitious targets, but we owe it to ourselves to meet them if we
intend to compete with the best from 2004 onwards.” Flavio Briatore, Managing Director of the Renault F1
Team, knows that this programme will demand hard work, but has given the Team
every chance of success. “We are more motivated than ever,” he admitted. “Thanks
to the perfect co-ordination between Enstone and Viry-Châtillon, we have a strong team which can also count on the
benefits of Renault’s technology via the Technocentre. In Jarno Trulli and
Fernando Alonso, we possess a tightly-knit, well-balanced driver pairing.” Jarno Trulli, entering his seventh season in Formula
1, is looking for his motivation to benefit the whole team. “The Renault adventure
has arrived at exactly the right time,” confirmed the Italian. “It will allow me to
demonstrate what I am capable of. What’s more, the new regulations for 2003
will be an extra challenge. They put more emphasis on the driver, and that
will mean I can put my experience to good use.” As for Fernando Alonso, newly-promoted to a full
race seat with the Team, the young Spaniard is determined not to cut any corners: “I certainly want to
prove that I deserve my place. After a season working in the background, I
have completely adapted to the Team and am now just waiting for Melbourne.” Several days after announcing the renewal of its
partnership with Mild Seven for four additional years, the Mild Seven Renault
F1 Team is pleased to confirm the renewal of its worldwide co-operation
agreement with the TotalFinaElf group. This new step continues a historical
partnership between the two companies which has been characterised by success, be it technical, commercial or sporting.
The two groups’ shared values of high technology, daring and innovation, will
continue to support their ambitions. At lunchtime, the presentation of the new R23 was
also graced by a fly- past from eight French Airforce Alphajets above the pit
straight. 20th January
2002: Renault F1 launched
their new car the R23, in Lucerne, Switzerland. Positioned on a podium at the
front of the Kultur und Kongresszentrum (KKL), with the town and beautiful
Lake Lucerne as a backdrop, the new car was revealed to an audience of media
and VIPs. After the reveal, Renault boss Patrick Faure, team boss Flavio
Briatore and the two drivers, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso were
introduced and interviewed by presenter Steve Ryder, followed by individual
interviews. With Mild Seven on board
as main sponsor for another 4 years, the car’s colour scheme is very similar
to the 2002 car, but the drivers’suits are much improved: incorporating Mild
Seven’s dark blue colour, the paler blue and the yellow of Renault are
steamlined down the legs, curving round at calf length, rather than last
year’s block colours. 22nd January 2003 paul
ricard circuit test Jarno Trulli
R23-02 Fernando
Alonso R23-01 The Renault F1 Team continued to test for a second
day at the Paul Ricard circuit, France. Both drivers
were able to run a reasonable amount of laps (53 & 33) in spite of wet
conditions on the track in the morning. The only other driver present was Zonta for Toyota. Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director of the Renault F1 Team: “As the track
was still damp from yesterday’s rain, we lost the morning but we managed to
cover a decent mileage with both drivers in the afternoon. Both Jarno and Fernando conducted a tyre
programme for Michelin with Fernando running a revised spec engine.” 21st January 2003 paul
ricard circuit test Jarno Trulli
R23-02 Fernando
Alonso R23-01 The Renault F1 Team today started a four- day
testing session at the Paul Ricard circuit, France. Owing to heavy rain and fog, the circuit remained closed in the
morning. As conditions improved, in the afternoon the Team was able to run a
limited amount of laps with drivers Jarno Trulli (7 laps) and Fernando Alonso (23 laps). Fastest was Alonso, with only one driver from another team
present: Ricardo Zonta from Toyota. Carlos
Nunes, Test Manager of Renault F1 Team: “We lost the entire morning due to bad weather. However we managed to
do the shake-down of both hybrid cars. We were also able to conduct some wet
tyre testing and a software development, in spite of the limited running. We
are hopeful that tomorrow will be a more productive day for both drivers.” 17th January 2003 barcelona
test The Renault F1 Team today concluded a three-day
test session at the Spanish circuit of Barcelona. In spite of bad weather conditions,
the team was able to fully complete its testing programme as planned. Along with
official drivers, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso, test driver, Allan McNish, also
had his first time with this new team. Mike Gascoyne, Technical
Director of the Renault F1 Team: "We
concluded our session with a very productive day’s testing. Fernando at the wheel of the hybrid car
completed his programme conducting a tyre work for Michelin. At the end of the day
he also run in the R202 to finish up with some chassis evaluation. Jarno concluded his programme on suspension development in
last year’s car. Overall we are quite satisfied because all the work that we
wished to do was completed. “ Alonso finished fastest on the day,
with Jarno at the opposite end of the spectrum. 16th January 2003 barcelona
test The Renault F1 Team today continued its three-day
test session at the Spanish circuit of Barcelona. Owing to bad weather
conditions this morning, the Team was unable to complete a significant number
of laps, with Allan McNish just completing a short shakedown of the R202. Jarno Trulli took
over this car for the afternoon, and focused on suspension evaluation as well
as tyre testing for Michelin. In the hybrid car, Fernando
Alonso concentrated on tyre work for next
season and software development and was 9th quickest. Allan and Jarno were at the very bottom of the time sheets. Fastest was DC for McLaren. Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director of the Renault F1 Team: "A more
productive day’s testing today as Fernando conducted
tyre tests for Michelin in the hybrid car and Jarno continued suspension
evaluation in last year’s R202.” Tomorrow the Renault F1 Team
will conclude testing at Barcelona, completing a tyre programme for the beginning of the
season with Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso. 15th January 2003 barcelona
test The Renault F1 Team today
started a three-day test session at the Circuit
de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Fernando Alonso was running the R202-02 while Allan McNish, Renault’s new test driver
took the R202-04 for the first time. Jarno was due to test in
that car but was unwell. Mike Gascoyne,
Technical Director of the Renault F1 Team: "An unpredictable day of
testing for the team. While Fernando continued to do suspension evaluation in the R202-02, which he started in Jerez last week, Jarno was not able
to test at all due to not feeling well. Luckily, our new test driver Allan McNish was at hand and so he took over Jarno’s seat, for the
day. It was his first drive with Renault
F1 Team and
it was a good opportunity to shakedown the car so early and start getting to
know the team.” Tomorrow Fernando will switch to
the hybrid car and hopefully Jarno will continue with tyre evaluation in the R202. Several teams were present today apart from Renault: McLaren (DC was fastest), Sauber, Toyota
Williams, BAR, Jaguar. 10th January 2003 jerez test The Renault F1 Team today concluded its three-day
test session at the Spanish circuit of Jerez. Jarno Trulli continued his familiarisation
with the hybrid car even though owing to bad weather conditions he couldn’t
complete a significant amount of laps. Fernando Alonso at the wheel of the R202 concentrated on suspension development.
Jarno was 3rd fastest with
1.21.314., behind the two Ferraris, the only other team left at the track. Badoer was quickest
with 1:18.525, although, while Burti completed a massive 121 laps, his fastest lap was
1:20.510. Alonso’s time was 1:22.977.The
Renaults only
completed 40 and 44 laps by comparison as the weather was still poor when
they wanted to go out. Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director of the Renault F1: "Today
we had a more productive day with better weather conditions. Jarno was able to complete a full test programme in the hybrid
car. He conducted some tyre work for Michelin
in the morning and in the afternoon he did some brake evaluation.
Fernando finished
the suspension development programme in the R202 and he completed most of the important works that we
wanted to do with this car. Overall we had a mixed results with this session,
finishing on a better note. We will continue testing at the Barcelona circuit next week.” 9th January 2003 renault
opt for friday testing After much speculation,
Renault F1 announced today that they will be taking part in the
Friday morning testing at Grands Prix this year, restricting themselves to
only 10 other test days throughout the season. The Team announced that
consequently they will have two test drivers this season: Allan McNish will test for the Team on Friday mornings
alongside the regular drivers, and Franck
Montagny will assist on the 10 extra
days. 9th
January 2003 jerez test The Renault F1 Team continued to test
for a second day at the Jerez de la
Frontera circuit, Spain. Both drivers were able
to run a reasonable amount of laps, even in spite of bad weather conditions
continuing from yesterday. Jarno was 4th
fastest with 1:24.450 and Fernando 6th and
last with 1:30.727. Fastest overall was Ralf Schumacher with 1:21.562. Mike Gascoyne, Technical
Director of the Renault F1 Team: "Today we couldn’t achieve
as much as we had hoped for. However Jarno managed to do some brake
evaluation running in the hybrid car while Fernando continued testing the suspension in the R202. Unfortunately
he had a small spin in the afternoon and we lost some time where the circuit
was at its best. Hopefully tomorrow the day will be more productive.” 8th
January 2003 jerez test The Renault F1 Team completed their
first testing day of 2003 at the Jerez de la
Frontera circuit, Spain. During this three-day
test session, the team will be running at the same time the hybrid car and
the R202 with Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso. A disrupted day’s running left the two Renaults at the
bottom of the time sheets, with Jarno only able to complete 9 laps. Only two other teams
are present: Ferrari and Williams, with Badoer fastest for Ferrari. Mike Gascoyne, Technical
Director of the Renault F1 Team: "Difficult and changeable
weather conditions limited our running on this first day of testing. Jarno’s task was the
shake-down of the new chassis in the interim car and as he was able to
complete only few laps we decided to save engine mileage for the rest of the
test. Fernando continued suspension development work in last year’s R202. Overall we had a
frustrating day due to the weather but we hope for better conditions tomorrow
and beyond.“ |