Alan Says Renault Was Unlucky In Valencia
The European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain this Sunday, had been overall a good race for Renault as Robert Kubica was able to finish at fifth place, however the team does not seem very happy. The team as well as Kubica thinks that they had been unlucky due to the bad timing of a safety car or else they would have been able to finish at the podium.
After the race the Renault chief race engineer, Alan Permane talked to the Formula One official website expressing his views regarding the European Grand Prix.
Alan stated that though the race had not been a complete failure for the team yet the team is happy with the performance of both the drivers but still he mentioned they were hoping for even better results especially for Robert who was doing very well. He said that the bad timing of the safety car ruined their podium finish.
When the safety car arrived the team was preparing for Petrov Vitaly's stop which was already scheduled and the mechanics were present in the pit lane with the tyres ready for Vitaly's car. However, just at the moment when Robert’s car approached the final corner the safety car appeared due to which the team obviously had to ask Kubica to enter the pit stop immediately and take advantage of the situation. However, it took little time as the mechanics went back to the garage and got tyres ready for him as well. The Renault driver lost his position there and was not able to cross Button and Barrichello all through the race. Still the team’s move to enter the pit lane was not wrong because that secured Kubica from having lost his position to both Ferrari cars, which means, that if they had not taken the quick decision then he would have ended behind the Ferraris as well.
After the entire incident Alan said that he thinks that if it had not been the bad pitting timing because of the safety car the team could have been able to get to the podium.
Actually as per the team strategy Kubica was not supposed to stop there but due to the safety car he entered to get his car serviced thus giving space to Button and Barrichello who took the lead.
However, with Kubica’s points in the race the team was able to cut the difference of nine points on Mercedes, their closest competitor in the championship. Now they are left with a difference of nineteen points only. Renault stands at the fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship at the moment with a total of eighty nine points. However, they have a long way yet to go as the Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren are all tough competitors of the season that stand at the top three places of the charts.
On the other hand when Alan was asked about Vitaly's performance at the weekend he commented that he showed strong driving at the qualifying session and also tried to do his best to finish among the top ten but unfortunately he lost a few positions right at the beginning due to a poor first lap. However, he added that at times luck is simply not at ones side and for Renault the same happened in Valencia.
Alan concluded saying that the Formula One Championship, revolves around 'ifs' and 'buts'. The spot deals with seconds and micro seconds. There could be wins and losses and podiums and disastrous accidents in a blink on an eye or even in shorter times than that.
At the finish of every race new strategies for the next races are made only to be amended after the race and one keeps learning and unlearning things like any other affair of life.
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