Pressiteade
It was aproductive day on both sides of the garage - Fernando accumulating 105 laps andposting the fastest time as he edges closer to his Formula 1 return with theteam in 2021. Zhou completed 98 laps, recovering strongly from a spin at Turn19, which partially delayed his morning’s programme.
The purpose ofthe day’s test was to enable both drivers to grow accustomed to modern Formula1 machinery across low fuel qualifying simulations and high fuel race runs.
Fernando andZhou recently tested the two-year old R.S.18 at the same venue a couple ofweeks ago on demo tyres, while for today’s running, they sampled Pirelli’s C4(Medium) and C5 (Soft) compounds.
FernandoAlonso, #14, R.S.20-06, P1, 1:36.333, 105 laps
“It was goodand very nice to be back in the car especially with the race team. I’ve beentesting the 2018 car in preparation but this one felt a bit more serious and itignited a little bit the competitive spirit. It was great to feel the moderncars and experience what they can do. I was watching the team’s progress at theweekend closely and it was nice to experience what I learnt from the outsideand then inside the cockpit today. We signed off lots of basic things we did inpreparation at the factory like seat fitting, pedal position and so on, whichis beneficial with only one and a half days of winter testing next year. Weticked boxes today and we go into Christmas and New Year with good spirit andeveryone motivated in the team.”
Guanyu Zhou,#46, R.S.20-05, P9, 1:37.902, 98 laps
“It was apretty decent day. I got used to the car straight away, we did a lot of lapsincluding race runs and performance runs, which were very interesting. Our pacewas reasonably stable, so I was happy with that, especially this morning’sperformance run. There were a couple of technical things here and there, but itis testing, we still did a lot of laps, and that is the main purpose. I wasn’treally looking for lap time and during the last two sessions, together with theteam, we found a good balance on the car in comparison to the evening sessions atthe weekend, so that’s positive learning for the team. Overall, I’m reallyhappy with my first time driving the 2020 car, so thanks to Renault for theopportunity.”
