FP1 & FP2 - Spanish GP report: Renault F1

Key practice points:

— Close to 2,000km run for Renault-powered teams on opening day of practice for Spanish Grand Prix
— New software upgrades thoroughly evaluated, showing positive improvements in energy and fuel management
— Infiniti Red Bull Racing third in both sessions with Daniel Ricciardo
— Pastor Maldonado finishes both sessions in top 10 for Lotus F1 Team
— Scuderia Toro Rosso in top 13 in FP1 and FP2; Caterham F1 Team completes solid programme

Rémi Taffin, head of track operations:

Overall today has been an interesting day. We had scheduled a lot of running to evaluate the new software upgrades and to help the teams get to grips with the new aero and mechanical packages. By and large we got through the tests and the results are largely positive and validated the progress we have seen in the dyno. Both fuel and energy management show some improvement, demonstrating that the correlation between dyno and track is there now.

We did have some issues, one of which was with Vettel’s car in FP1. Due to an electrical issue, which the team has not yet identified, the car power supply was down and he stopped on track. When the car was recovered the team discovered the wiring loom needed changing and could not do in time for FP2, but the engine was not affected or damaged and we do not expect any further issues from this tomorrow. Across the other teams everything is going in the right direction, with all teams making progress. We’ll look through the information from all the tests and hopefully improve further in FP3 and Qualifying.