New Renault impresses Fisichella

Giancarlo Fisichella declared himself impressed by Renault’s new car after his first test session in it today in Jerez.

The Italian became the first man to drive the new machine, successor to Renault’s world championship-winning 2005 car.

He completed 41 trouble-free laps in a session designed to test the new car rather than to clock fast laps.

Fisichella, who was sixth-fastest, said: “We had a very promising first day with the new car.

“I felt comfortable straightaway – and the programme was to do as much mileage as possible, while proceeding with all the checks you have to do on a new car.

“This wasn’t a day to go for lap times, and it was hard to get the tyres working in the cold temperatures.

“The V8 engine felt very good, similar to our predictions, and it was reliable for the first run. My first impression is that this is a car with a lot of potential.”

Michael Schumacher, driving a 2005 Ferrari chassis fitted with a new 2.4-litre V8 engine, set a best lap of one minute 18.020seconds.

That put him more than a second clear of the Toyota pair of Ricardo Zonta and Ralf Schumacher, who were both using new-for-2006 cars.

Fisichella was a second further adrift but Renault technical director Bob Bell was not concerned with lap times.

He was pleased to finally get the chance to road-test a car which has been honed on the drawing board and in the factory for more than a year.

He said: “Today was the first milestone on the road to the opening race of the season in Bahrain.

“The project has put everybody in the team to the test over the winter – and they delivered today when the car ran on time, on the day we planned nearly a year ago.

“After our initial installation laps, our work proceeded smoothly. As with any new car, there were some minor issues to resolve. But we did not encounter any major problems and gradually began completing some longer runs.

“The purpose of the day was very simple – to put miles on the new package. From what Giancarlo could tell, the car is responding in the same way as the 2005 car – which is in line with our predictions and our objectives.

“The engine’s first track test went very smoothly, and the V8 was behaving normally as it completed nearly 200 kilometres. All in all, it was a pleasing opening day of testing with the new car.”