James Allison says Renault R31’s speed and reliability good, but not satisfactory – Formula 1 Update
Renault’s Technical Director, James Allison has voiced about his car, R31’s performance and said that the speed and reliability of the car is good so far, but more improvements can be made to it. James further added that some new upgrades will be seen in
the Turkish Grand Prix.
Renault’s car had an innovative exhaust system for the 2011 season, which paid-off for the team. Renault’s duo, Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov, put on a good show early in the season to spice things up.
Firstly, Petrov marched his way towards the lowest step of the podium at the Australian Gran Prix, defending against Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Then in the Malaysian Grand prix, Nick Heidfeld stole the show from Petrov and finished at third place, making
it two in two for the team this season.
However, the team’s performance in the Chinese Grand Prix was not memorable as Heidfeld crashed the car twice on the same day in Free Practice session. Than in race, Petrov scored points but Heidfeld stayed away from the top ten finishers.
James still thinks that further work can be done on the car to make it better among the higher ranks.
The Technical director added, “The last race and that wasn’t a very good one for us, so we’re looking to put that right in Istanbul. Much of what went wrong for us came from failing to qualify in the position that the car merited.”
He further voiced that the straight line speed and reliability of the car is good. Talking about upgrades for the Turkish Grand Prix, James said, “Like all the teams we’ll be bringing some parts. There will be a different front wing, some modifications around
the nose, and updates to the air intake area of the car and some tweaks to the floor.”
James further added that the track is similar to circuits in Malaysia and China, with some regular turns. Renault team will hope to perform well in the first race of the European part of the season.
The Turkish Grand Prix will be contested on the May 8, at the Istanbul Park Circuit, Istanbul.
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