Renault F1 Team

Mastering Monza

Renault F1 Team — 2010-09-07T11:40:00Z

Monza presents a unique challenge for an F1 car. It's known as the ‘Temple of Speed' for the simple reason that it's by far the quickest track of the year. It's so extreme that all teams have to develop bespoke aero packages to make their cars slippery enough to be competitive over the 5.8 km lap. The old Hockenheim used to present a similar challenge, but today Monza stands alone as the only track on the calendar where the cars race flat out at speeds approaching 340 km/h.

To get an idea of just how quick the lap is, it's worth noting that the main straight at Monza is over 1.3 km long – that's the distance over which the cars are at full throttle after exiting the Parabolica. The straight between the second Lesmo and Ascari also sees the drivers flat out for 911 metres. So it's little wonder that 73% of the lap is spent at full throttle – more than at any other circuit – with an average speed approaching 250 km/h.

The downforce stats make for equally impressive reading: a Monza-spec R30 has 25% less downforce than was used at Monaco. That allows a top speed of 340 km/h at Monza versus just 290 km/h at Monaco. But good straight-line speed comes at the expense of aerodynamic grip and it's something the drivers will need to adjust to. The first few laps during free practice will feel particularly strange, even for experienced drivers, and they will all being crying out for more downforce.

In terms of the bespoke low downforce package for Monza, the teams focus their attention on the front and rear wings. But it's a costly exercise because these wings only get one outing a year. “We know we have to do it every year,” says Technical Director, James Allison. “And because wings take a long time to make, we take a first look at the low downforce package in the wind tunnel as early as May. Two or three wind tunnel sessions of a few days each see the final package specified in July. This year we also have the f-duct as a potential alternative for Monza and we're still evaluating whether we can make the device work for Monza.”

On paper, Monza looks like it should be a track where overtaking is relatively easy. After all, long straights usually encourage slipstreaming and hence overtaking, and there is no shortage of straights at Monza. The reality, though, is quite different, as Chief Race Engineer Alan Permane explains: “The trouble is that most of the corners leading onto the straights are high-speed corners where it's difficult to follow another car closely. For example, take the final corner, the Parabolica: it's a long 180 degree corner where the cars experience lateral acceleration for 441 metres and an apex speed in excess of 200km/h.”

Monza also has a reputation for being especially demanding on brakes with 11% of the lap spent braking. In fact, the braking demands are the toughest of the year, on a par with Montreal. That's because there are so many big stops, which put enormous energy through the brake system.

The first chicane is the most severe of all with the cars approaching at 340 km/h and shedding 240km/h in just 150 metres. And this year with the cars running on full tanks of fuel, there will be 10% more energy going through the brake system compared to last year. So don't be surprised to see all the cars running the largest brake ducts they have available to try and keep the disc temperatures at manageable levels.

Robert Kubica: “Monza is a circuit that can throw up surprises”

Renault F1 Team — 2010-09-06T14:43:31Z

Robert, Monza is an important weekend for you. Do you think of it as a home race?
In a way, it is. Poland is my home country but in go-karts, Formula Renault and Formula 3, I always raced for Italian teams and spent over a year living close to Monza, so this whole area holds good memories for me. Looking at my F1 career, this was also the track where I scored my first podium finish in 2006, so it's certainly a very special circuit and weekend.

What are the characteristics of the circuit for the drivers?
You have a lot of high-speed sections, like Ascari and Parabolica, plus the low-speed chicanes and it's difficult to balance these sectors so the car performs well in all of them. It's the quickest circuit on the calendar, which means we use a very low-downforce, low-drag configuration. In previous years, we tested at Monza the week before the race so we could get used to the feeling of the car, which is much lighter than normal. Now, we don't have that test, so it becomes a bit of a tricky weekend. The other important factor is good mechanical grip for braking stability into the chicanes, and good traction on the exit.

Is it an enjoyable circuit to drive?
I think so because the feeling is so unusual – it's like being at the wheel of a completely different car. At the start of the weekend, you think that the rear end is very unstable, but in fact that's how it stays all the time, and you never quite find the grip and stability you're used to at other circuits. That makes it a bigger challenge for the drivers, and I also enjoy the fact that there's a lot of heavy braking, where you approach the braking points at very high speed and need to be extremely precise. It's not easy to pick them up or to hit the apex of the corners.

After a strong podium finish in Spa, what are your expectations for this weekend?
It's hard to say and I think this will be a very interesting weekend to judge the performance of the cars. Spa was a good example of how powerful the f-duct can be and we were immediately more competitive and closer to the front when we fitted it. The effect will be less powerful in Monza because the cars run with less drag, but there will be still be an advantage, so we need to see which teams use it and if we are able to as well. This circuit can sometimes throw up some surprises, so I prefer to stay cautious when it comes to predictions. But if the car feels as good as it did in Spa, then there's no reason why we won't be competitive in Monza.

Vitaly Petrov: “Monza is a great track with some famous corners”

Renault F1 Team — 2010-09-06T14:27:12Z

Vitaly, you did well to score points at Spa, but do you feel you could have got even more from the weekend?
Yes, it was good to score some points, but we could have done better. Because of my mistake in qualifying, I only started from 23^rd on the grid, but we made a good recovery and it was a good race. However, we know that we are capable of finishing much higher. It's good to finish in the points, but we know that sixth place could have been possible.

You had some good battles in the race – especially with Rosberg. Did you enjoy that?
It's always a good feeling to be battling with the strong guys in the field, with Mercedes and Rosberg, who is an experienced F1 driver. Our car was very quick on the straights, so I waited for Sutil to pit in order to have a good slipstream and I was then able to pass Rosberg before Les Combes. It was a little bit risky because it was on the outside and it was really at the limit, but overtaking him was a good feeling.

The car took a step forward in Spa – how did it feel to drive?
The car was good to drive and it was quick on the straights thanks to the f-duct. We were able to use more downforce so it definitely was a big improvement.

How did you find racing with the f-duct? Was it easy to adapt to?
We used it all through Friday practice to first check it and then to practise using it. After that it was all good. I was able to use the f-duct without any difficultly, even through Eau Rouge where it was a little challenging to drive with only one hand.

How will you approach the final six races of the season?
Apart from Monza, I will need to learn all the other circuits where we will race in the last part of the season because I have never been to these places. I will study videos and maps, and look at data for those circuits.

Have you got any special memories of Monza from GP2? Do you enjoy the challenge it presents?
I was on pole position for GP2 in Monza last year. I was leading for the majority of the race, but finished second because I had to slow down when there was an accident in front of me and I lost the lead. Despite this, it remains a good memory for me, although now in Formula 1 I will need to learn it again and adapt my driving style. Monza is a great track with some famous corners like Parabolica and the Lesmos. What is important is not to make any mistakes, because even if you lose a few tenths, it could cost five places or even more. It will be interesting to race there and I look forward to it.

What is your target for this weekend?
My target again is to be in the top 10.

James Allison: “Our Spa performance bodes well for the remaining races.”

Renault F1 Team — 2010-09-06T14:09:09Z

James, the team was back on the podium at Spa and both R30s were in the points. What was your verdict on the race?
It was obviously a great way to come back after the summer break. It was a very encouraging weekend and bodes well for the remaining six races. Robert was quick right from the start of the weekend and was able to match the pace of the leading cars. To finish on the podium was a great effort and a fitting reward for the whole team. Vitaly also had a strong race and did well to recover from a disappointing qualifying session. He drove aggressively, had a memorable battle with the Mercedes, and managed to pull himself up from the back of the grid to score some valuable points.

The R30 appeared to take a big step forward in Spa - how much was down to the f-duct?
Spa was a big weekend for us because the f-duct is a significant upgrade that we have been working very hard to get right. And we knew Spa would be a track where an f-duct would bring considerable gains. I would say that it was worth more than half a second per lap at Spa.

After all the effort of designing and manufacturing the f-duct, it must have been especially satisfying to see it work on the car straight away…
We started looking at f-ducts way back at the start of the year and, although the gain was evident right from the start, it was also clear that it would be a difficult device to get right. We also knew that we had a very substantial set of conventional improvements that were much easier to implement with less technical risk, so we chose to prioritise these over the f-duct. However, from as early as the Bahrain Grand Prix we had a small group of aerodynamicists establishing what we would need to do to put the concept on our car. Once we had a concept that we felt had a good chance of working properly straight out of the box, we committed to manufacture. It was therefore extremely pleasing to see that the device worked correctly from the first free practice runs in Spa.

Let's look ahead to Monza, the fastest track of the season. Can we expect to see a new aero package on the car?
Yes, Monza is very different from all the other circuits and so we have had to prepare a bespoke package that we will not use anywhere else. Monza has such long straights and so few corners that it requires much smaller wings than any other track. To add further complication, the f-duct is a potential alternative option for Monza. Like several other teams, we too are evaluating whether we can make the device work in the particular, low-downforce environment of Monza

What is the development strategy for the rest of the season?
By this stage of the season any sensible team will be spending most of its time working on next year's car, and we are no exception. However, we've still got a few more upgrades to come before the end of the season, although it's fair to say they will not be as significant as those we were brining to the car at the start of the year.

And what is the team's approach for the final part of the season and the close battle with Mercedes?
We're currently 23 points behind Mercedes so we've got to take four points off them in each of the remaining races. We only managed to take three points out of their lead in Spa, but I'm hopeful that, if we can maintain our current level of competitiveness, we can start finishing ahead of Mercedes with both our cars. If we can achieve that, and race effectively with no reliability issues, we stand a good chance of catching them by the end of the year.

What are your expectations for the weekend?
Monza is very different from the mainstream bunch of tracks that make up the calendar, but generally speaking the cars that are good at one track tend to be good everywhere, regardless of the downforce levels. The performance of the R30 in Spa therefore gives me confidence that we can compete for similarly good results at all the remaining tracks, including Monza. We will be aiming to get both cars well inside the top ten both in qualifying and the race this weekend.

2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Sunday

Renault F1 Team — 2010-08-29T16:59:05Z

Robert Kubica, P3
Fastest lap: 1:49.807
Started race on option
Pit stop: Lap 23, time in pits: 20.727 (prime)
Pit stop: lap 35, time in pits: 27.933 (intermediate)

Robert: This is a great result for the team after a weekend when we were competitive in every session, and we were racing with McLaren and Red Bull. Nobody was expecting us to be at this level in Spa, so I think we can be pleased with the work we have done. The conditions were very difficult at the start, and the track was damp before and after the Safety Car came out. I was running in fourth place when Button and Vettel collided, and I think I could have gone quicker than Jenson during that part of the race. When the track was clear, I was able to push to the limit and the car felt really good. Webber stopped before me to change onto the prime tyre, but the mechanics did a great job to get me out in front of him and, although it was very close up the hill after Eau Rouge, I held onto the position and then even pulled away a little bit. When the rain came again, the circuit was very slippery, but I was catching Lewis on the lap when we stopped. As I came into the pit lane, I told myself to take it easy because it was so slippery, but there were a number of controls I had to change on the steering wheel. I was distracted doing this and that was my mistake: when I looked up, it was past the braking point, I locked up the front wheels and collided with some of the mechanics - fortunately without hurting anybody. That cost me one position, but it was a race in which mistakes were very easy to make, so we can be happy that I maintained my position from the start and that our pace was very competitive.

Vitaly Petrov, P9
Fastest lap: 1:51.175
Started race on option
Pit stop: Lap 16, time in pits: 21.920 (prime)
Pit stop: Lap 34, time in pits: 23.554 (intermediate)

Vitaly: Scoring points was the target today, so it's good to finish ninth. My start was okay and I then tried to push hard and come through the field, which is what I did. The race was nice, but the conditions were very difficult and it was hard to choose which tyres to use. The team made some good decisions and I stayed a long time on the slicks, so I think we made the best of it. After my mistake yesterday in qualifying, I showed that we have the pace to always be in the top ten and I hope next time I can qualify much better so I don't have to overtake so many cars. We also had the f-duct this weekend, which gave me good speed on the straights and helped me in my battle with Rosberg, so it looks good for the coming races.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
Robert's third podium of the season is a great result for the team. Also, it was a strong performance from Vitaly to recover from the back of the grid to score points. Overall I think we can be very satisfied with this weekend, especially because we brought our latest updates, including the f-duct, and managed to get it working properly straight away. This weekend has shown us that we have taken a good step forward, which is very promising for the rest of the season.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
A fantastic result for the team. Both drivers did an excellent job and it's great to see Robert finish on the podium, which was our target. And it was nice to have the pace to race with the Red Bulls and beat Ferrari, although unfortunately Hamilton was just a bit too quick for us today. Vitaly also drove really well and did well to score some points having started from the back of the grid. So it's a very good day all-round.

Rémi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations
Both drivers had great races today and Robert's podium is a good reward for the whole team. Vitaly also drove very well and did a nice job to recover from his disappointing qualifying performance yesterday to score points. This was the last race for these particular V8s and all went well. They didn't miss a beat and the wet conditions this weekend made their life a little bit easier than it might otherwise have been.

2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Saturday

Renault F1 Team — 2010-08-28T16:15:16Z

FREE PRACTICE 3

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P5, 1:46.492, 17 laps
Vitaly Petrov, R30-04, P12, 1:47.406, 15 laps

QUALIFYING

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P3, 1:46.100

Robert: We have been in the top five in every session, in all conditions, this weekend, and going into qualifying we were hoping that it might be possible to get third place. This is the first race at which we have used our f-duct and I must say congratulations to everybody at the factory because it has worked perfectly from the first lap in practice. In fact, I was in second position at the end of my first run in Q3 but I wasn't able to use my second set of option tyres. The car cut out just before the pit lane on my in-lap, and after the mechanics had pushed me back to the garage, we didn't have time to do another run. At the end of the session, I was standing in the pits, watching the other cars and praying for rain when a few drops started to fall - and only Lewis was able to improve his time. It meant I lost a place on the front row, but I am still in a strong position for tomorrow, and now we need to wait and see what happens - with the race and with the weather.

Vitaly Petrov, R30-04, P24, No time

Vitaly: It was a very disappointing session for me today. On my out-lap on slick tyres, I went on the kerb at the exit of turn nine and lost control of the car because of the standing water. I wasn't able to get started again, so that was the end of my session. It was a big shame because the car has been very good this weekend, and I was aiming for a place in the top ten. But now this has happened, all I can do is focus on tomorrow and stay positive. The f-duct is working very well, so we are quick on the straights and will be able to overtake. Plus the weather forecast is uncertain, and we know that when it is wet, everything is possible.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
Qualifying third with Robert is a great result, especially at a track like Spa. The race team did a really good job, although we had a fuel pick-up problem, which cost Robert the chance to do a second run in Q3. Unfortunately it was a dramatic start to the session for us with Vitaly making a mistake on the kerb out of turn nine, which is really a shame. Hopefully he can come through the field in the race tomorrow. We've been running the f-duct this weekend and overall we are happy with how it is working, which is thanks to the great job done by the team at Enstone and here at the track. This development has drastically improved our performance, which looks promising for the end of the season.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
Third is a fantastic result for Robert and just goes to show the performance we have put on the car, not only since the last race, but all season, is really paying off. It obviously wasn't a great session for Vitaly, spinning off on his out-lap, but with the pace of the car we have this weekend, I'm sure he can still have a good race from the back of the grid. With Robert we are where we are on merit, and we will be racing to finish on the podium. The weather has been changeable all weekend and I expect more of the same tomorrow. I'd prefer a dry race, but we've been quick in the wet and the dry so either way won't worry us too much.

2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Friday

Renault F1 Team — 2010-08-27T16:28:49Z

Robert Kubica, R30-03
Free Practice 1: P3, 2.02.081, 14 laps
Free Practice 2: P4, 1:49.282, 20 laps

Robert: It was quite a good Friday for us. The conditions in first practice were pretty bad, but our main aim was to check how the f-duct system was functioning on our car. We focused on getting experience of the system, for the engineers and for myself, and to get everything working properly - and we managed to do this in spite of running in the wet. In the second session, I ran every type of tyre: extremes, intermediates and both compounds of the slicks. The car felt reasonable in all conditions, but I think we can make further improvements to the balance tomorrow.

Vitaly Petrov, R30-04
Free Practice 1: P17, 2:04.690, 15 laps
Free Practice 2: P11, 1:50.251, 24 laps

Vitaly: The first target today was to find out how the f-duct was working, and it looks pretty good. You can feel a good difference on the straights when the system is operating, and we are even driving with one hand in some of the corners. It gives the drivers a bit more work to do in the cockpit, but it's nothing difficult to handle. This afternoon, we started to do some set-up work, but the conditions were changing all the time. Hopefully we can make more progress tomorrow, in order to get really comfortable with the car ahead of qualifying.

Technical Debrief with Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer:

Track conditions were poor this morning. Could you do any useful running in the wet?
This is the first time that we have brought our f-duct to the track, so we spent the morning learning about it in the wet conditions, completing lots of single-lap runs to gather data. It appears to be working very well, but we will need to go through the data thoroughly tonight, and check the installation on the car, to be sure everything is functioning as expected.

Robert seemed competitive in both sessions. Does that tally with your assessment?
It's always difficult to judge performance on Friday, because you don't know the fuel loads that other teams are running. Robert seems happy with the car, although he is still suffering from a little understeer.

How did Vitaly's day go?
It was a very similar story. He is running exactly the same system as Robert, but he was less happy with the balance and complained of more understeer. We still have some work to do to get the car balance to his liking.

What does the weather forecast say for the rest of the weekend?
In terms of the weather, it's been a pretty normal day at Spa! The conditions for the rest of the weekend look unsettled: on Saturday, there's a chance of rain in the morning, and a higher probability in the afternoon; and it's the same for Sunday. As usual, we're expecting a mixture of everything for the rest of the weekend.

Conditions are expected to remain cool. Will this be an issue for dry tyre warm-up?
I don't think so. We ran both types of tyre this afternoon, and didn't encounter any difficulties with either compound. Although we didn't do a great deal of running, I don't think cool conditions would pose a problem.

Renault F1 Team announces SNORAS sponsorship

Renault F1 Team — 2010-08-26T13:07:32Z

The Renault F1 Team today announced a significant new sponsorship agreement with Bank SNORAS, the Lithuanian retail bank. The ‘SNORAS logo will appear on the sidepods of the Renault F1 R30, beginning with this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Renault F1 Team Chairman Gerard Lopez commented:

“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Bank SNORAS to the Renault F1 Team. This new business win with Bank SNORAS adds a further dimension to our significant commercial efforts in Eastern Europe, and will offer Bank SNORAS a significant boost in global visibility.”

Raimondas Baranauskas, President of Bank SNORAS, said:

“We are delighted to begin a mutually beneficial partnership with the Renault F1 Team. Innovation, combined with a proactive approach, are among the core values of Bank SNORAS and its group of companies. Formula 1, which combines human abilities and the newest technologies, is therefore a perfect fit the bank's philosophy. The Renault F1 Team is already among the top five in Formula 1, and we believe that they will continue to strengthen that position.”

About Bank SNORAS

AB Bank SNORAS, during seventeen years of its activity, has become one of the largest banks in Lithuania and it has the widest territorial customer service network in the country. Presently almost 1100 employees work in Bank SNORAS; the bank provides its services to more than one million clients. Bank SNORAS has branches in Latvia and Estonia. The bank is represented abroad by its representative offices in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Czech Republic, and Belarus. Presently Bank SNORAS group is the only group of companies in the Baltic States which manages three banks: AB Bank SNORAS, AS “Latvijas Krājbanka” and the investment bank “Finasta”.

For more information about Bank SNORAS, visit http://www.snoras.com/en

Renault F1 Team partners with EFG International

Renault F1 Team — 2010-08-26T13:02:24Z

The Renault F1 Team today announced a partnership with EFG International, a global private banking group, for the remaining races of the 2010 season.

The logo of EFG Bank (a private banking subsidiary of EFG International) will appear on the sidepods of the Renault F1 R30, starting at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Renault F1 Team Chairman Gerard Lopez commented:

“We are delighted to welcome EFG International to the Renault F1 Team's partner network for the remainder of this season. EFG is probably the leading bank in historic motor racing and is a respected premium brand.“EFG International's Head of Strategic Marketing & Communications Keith Gapp commented:”We have a strong focus on historic motor racing, sponsoring events such as Le Mans Classic. It is exciting for us to be able to complement this, for the remaining races of the 2010 season, with the cutting edge and excitement of Formula 1. The Renault F1 Team represents an attractive, multi-dimensional opportunity for international companies such as ours."

About EFG International

EFG International is a global private banking group offering private banking and asset management services, headquartered in Zurich. EFG International's group of private banking businesses currently operates in over 50 locations in 30 countries, with circa 2,400 employees. EFG International's registered shares (EFGN) are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. EFG International is a member of EFG Group.

For more information, see www.efginternational.com and www.efgmotorracing.com

A ‘typical Friday' at the track

Renault F1 Team — 2010-08-25T11:05:44Z

Friday at a Grand Prix is always a hectic time, even though the end-of-day press release usually just talks about a ‘normal Friday'. There's a massive amount of work to shoehorn into just three hours of track time. Tyre compounds need evaluating, data needs collecting, and the drivers must find a good set-up direction for the rest of the weekend. But what exactly does it all involve?

To tackle these tasks, both Robert and Vitaly usually work together and pool their data to ensure the team gets through the workload. Of course, there are some things that both drivers need to assess, such as the feel for tyres, but it's not necessary to repeat everything with each car.

On Friday, the cars run with varying fuel loads across the sessions, usually starting with low fuel runs to allow the drivers to assess set-up changes and get an understanding for the car. The high fuel runs will be used to assess tyre degradation, brake wear and race pace, and will help the engineers plan the race strategy. In this way, the team works with both qualifying and the race in mind.

As well as dialling the car into the track, Friday represents the only real chance to test and validate new upgrades. For example, the team developed some new gearbox parts recently and ran them on the car on three different Fridays before finally racing them. Of course, the main development item in Spa will be the validation of the f-duct to see if its performance matches the factory simulations.

Perhaps the main challenge facing the team on the first day of practice is evaluating the tyres compounds, especially because the allocation is so restricted. In FP1 just one set of prime tyres are available, which can only be used in this session, while for FP2 there are just one set of primes and one set of options. Each driver never has more than one set of each compound available during either of the Friday sessions, which means fresh rubber is always in short supply.

In terms of tyres for this weekend, Bridgestone has supplied the hard and soft compounds because Spa's high-speed corners always produce high degradation rates. And it's not uncommon to have low ambient and track temperatures at Spa, which could make it difficult to get heat into the tyres and get them working at their best.

The Friday set-up programme for Spa is likely to see quite a bit of experimentation with aero levels. Both the first and final sectors are dominated by straights where top speed is important, while the middle sector requires downforce to cope with the high-speed corners such as Pouhon. The team will therefore experiment to see which direction brings the biggest gains in lap time.

And what about the greatest corner of them all? These days Eau Rouge is no longer the challenge it once was, simply because the cars have so much grip available. That's not to say it shouldn't be treated with respect on Friday morning, but it won't take long before the cars are taking it flat.

At the end of the Friday sessions there's still plenty of work to be done. The team can change anything on the cars overnight and it's not uncommon to see the mechanics burning the midnight oil as they strip and rebuild the cars. The occasional all-nighter isn't out of the question either. The usual routine involves a change of engines and gearboxes to fit the race units, as well as replacing radiators and some suspension components. And of course, it's the time to make those important set-up changes that are needed for Saturday morning.

The final Friday challenge is trying to interpret the timesheets and gauge competitiveness. It's certainly not an easy task, with lap times on low and high fuel loads varying by as much as four seconds, but the engineers usually have a fair idea of the pecking order by the end of the day. By looking at the short and long run pace of others, an assessment can be made of overall competitiveness.