ING Renault F1 Team Fan Site

The Brazilian took his fourth victory of the season, while Renault had a difficult race and leave Valencia with no points.

At the start of the race, Felipe Massa got a good start from pole position in front of Lewis Hamilton, Robert Kubica, Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen. However, there was massive disappointment for the ING Renault F1 Team as Fernando Alonso was hit by Kazuki Nakajima on the first lap and to retire when he got back to the pits. Nelson was 16th after the first lap.

On lap 10, the order was unchanged at the head of the race. Massa was still the leader with a lead of 4.2 seconds over Hamilton. They were followed by Kubica, Kovalainen and Raikkonen. The rest of the field were already 15 seconds off the lead.
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On lap 15, Felipe Massa was the first driver to head for the pits. Lewis Hamilton followed suit a couple of laps later. He rejoined the track in fourth, behind Kubica, Kovalainen and Massa. Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica made their stop a lap later. Kovalainen was the final man from the leading pack to pit on lap 20. The new order was then: Massa, Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Raikkonen.

On lap 27, Nelson Piquet's front wing appeared to be damaged. The Brazilian had not yet stopped and had moved up to 14th place. He eventually stopped on lap 33 and fitted the soft option tyres. At the front, Felipe Massa held a 9 seconds lead over Hamilton, 27 seconds over Kubica and 33 seconds over Kovalainen.

Felipe Massa began the second wave of pit-stops on lap 37. As he exited the pit he narrowly avoided contact with Adrian Sutil, which led the stewards to launch an investigation into the incident. Lewis Hamilton stopped a lap later, Kubica on lap 40, while Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen came in together on lap 42. The Ferrari driver�injured a mechanic as he tried to leave the pits too early. He stopped for a moment, and then rejoined. But his return to the track was short lived as his V8 breathed its last and expired on lap 45.

Nothing changed at the front after that and so, after 57 laps, Felipe Massa took the chequered flag in front of Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica. Nelson finished in 11th.

As Flavio has said ' A race to forget' I agree whole heartedly

A very unspectacular race in many ways. Our race was basicly over on the first lap we need to score big next time cmon Renault Gooo

Can anybody answer me this 'Did any driver actually overtake another car in race mode, forget blue flags or pit changes', I think not ??

Another question 'If this is the number one wheel to wheel racing sport of the world why are we now talking about beating an opponent by use of a safety car' - Years ago the race would be red flagged before a safety car was thought about. Are we being consumed by modern day television ratings. I think so. Bernie and his boys need the dollars coming in. Sorry but out of 10 I rate my closest home track a 1 out of 10. Bring back Brands Hatch - a real race track or even Cheste at Valencia

@3 yeah they were some but nothing significant, I know Coulthard did a couple of times and maybe a few others at the start of the race lol

@4 The problem is not the track, it's aero dependancy of the cars, hopefully next year's rules will help to solve this problem.

Actually this time its the track that's not got many overtaking chances.

It was a disappointing day for the team and such a shame for Fernando. But we will put that behind us and look forward now, not back. This is racing and these things can happen. It�s just a shame that it was Fernando who was the unlucky victim and in his home race. I couldn�t believe how much damage Kazuki did to the back of the R28 � he really did whack us pretty hard.

Turns out that this track is not conducive to overtaking � or at least not with 2008-spec aerodynamics! Maybe next year will be different. I think there was an overtaking move � DC on Piquet, although DC undid all that with his botched move on Fisi a few laps later.

The team will be in Monza next week for the test on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Both Fernando and Nelson will be in the car, although I don�t have the driving schedule confirmed yet. As soon as I do I will post it on the blog.

Hey Teomolca - what would you know about overtaking ???in your day people walked infront of cars with red flags didn't they. I am refering to your profile........1913 (joking)

@1
not only a race to forget but the whole season unless the remaining races are a bit better.
Its a real shame as the team seems to have done a great job in improving the car, but the results still aren't that great or consistant.

I agree whole heartedly about the over taking, we want wheel to wheel racing and so must the drivers - surely you don't become an F1 driver to go around a track in procession- thats just not racing.

Yes we must move on. Lets forget the European GP 2008 as if it did not exist. Spa here we come. Renault had better come up with a rear bumper if we cannont get to Q3. Sorry being negative...... but such a dissappointment, BUT we will bounce back.

absolutely clemo, todays race felt similar to watching a busy test session with commentators

By the way RF1PP
How do you always sound so calm and diplomatic - behind the scenes are you ever jumping up and down with frustration and cursing the opposition and Renaults bad luck like the rest of us?

Like Barcelona, I'm putting this race behind me! I'm still very disappointed over this!

So Fernando will be running same (new) engine in both Spa and Monza, or will he continue to Spa with Valencia engine and opt for new in Monza??

Hi clemo, of course I get frustrated like the rest of you. I couldn�t believe what I was seeing today when Kazuki took us out. I was pretty angry, but when you start in the midfield this sort of thing can happen, especially on the tight confines of a street circuit. It�s my job to be diplomatic on the blog, but I guess I'm just a positive sort of person. Cursing the result is not going to change anything and there�s no point wasting negative energy.

actualy to be honest as of late ive found the gp2 much more enjoyable to watch simply because everything is the same so there is plenty of overtaking and the sorta rookieish which makes for unpredictable action

http://i36.tinypic.com/2weyvet.gif

It's interesting to note that after a while of frozen engines, Ferrari´s that used to be reliable are blowing up, despite all the "reliability" upgrades they introduce in their engines

It's interesting to see that their clients (STR & FI) don't have this problem, seems they don't get the latest "frozen" spec.

I think it's about time Renault switch their focus to 2009. This season is lost as is the 4th position.

we are still fighting for 4th in the constructors(its worth 20 million for god sake which could be used as development money for next years car), we are above Redbull and Williams, the season is far from over and its not the time to give up some of you are some of the worst fans I've ever met no faith at all.

I believe I saw Nakajima overtaking Barichello ..

Toyota has improved a lot, they have been quite strong on all types of tracks. Renault are 10 points behind them, but if they keep scoring with both cars, Renault will need to score with both cars at all remaining races.

Hi All.
Worse luck imposible¡¡¡
@20 the same of manustudio. Totally agree.
Ferrari is ever one or two steps up out of the rules and they ever win by this.
Then they are the more clevers or the rest are stupid? It´s time to think .

(Post. Today morning , THE BEST MATCH of all the history of the BasketBall, we losed it, yes , but we feel champions)
Saludos

Toyota improved.. so!! is it a sign we should throw in the towel? No!! can Renault beat Toyota? Yes!! One race could change everything, its been said before but anything is possible.

Thank you RF1PP,
I will have positive thoughts for Spa....and positively hope that Toyota suffer a little bit of bad luck instead of us!

renault f1 team, wake up please and let s do the better job....

Well to all pessimists here in Spa we are gonna do mega well! Why? Because I will be there cheering Fernando and the team on- and if necessary I shall puff hard to give them a bit more oomph!

@29 thankyou we need more people like you to lift the moral here, some these lot are a right grumpy bunch haha

We were rookies today... plenty of information now, next year we'll do better, I hope.
As Nano said in T5, patience. Maybe Spa would be our right one, lets look forward.

Hi all,

I'm sorry for Fernando.. in his home GP.. so unlucky this season.
Anyway maybe great atmoshpere in Valencia but the race wasn't so exciting. All the fans had to be sad for Fernando..

Good luck in Spa

@22 it's not a matter of faith, I'm just realistic. We're 2/3 into the season, we've got 31 points (including the SC lotto price Piquet collected) so at this pace we're gonna score about 15 points more in what´s left of the season, and we're 10 down on Toyota who by the way have a clearly better car than us at the moment. Why might not even catch them even if they didn't score any point at all!!! And they have clearly faster car right now!!

@33 You should know by now that this is F1 one of the most unpredictible sports. You can't predict whats going to happen so just keep looking forward and don't worry too much. Anyway next stop spa, so let's take on toyota and show them why we won two titles

@I really wish to be wrong. But I bet at the end of the season we're gonna be a lot closer to 46 points than to Toyota.
Oh by the way, good luck for Spa!!

RF1 PP>
That is my first time here, but I think I found what I needed for past 2 years, I was looking all around to find the answer on this question:
How did it happen that Renault, the manufacturer of the best engines in F1, engines which were dominating for decade in 1989-1997 happen to loose that battle to Ferrari, the team which was hunting to find out the secret of Renault V10 several years ago. My question is also if anyone in Renault realises that by loosing 30-40 horse powers it is impossible to take 1 place among constructors or even to compete with teams like Ferrari and McLaren, why did it happen that Renault did not freeze up powerefull engine, more then that looks like no one in the Reanault team wants to improve the situation, Ferari found the ways to improve engine, what is Renault waiting for? If engine won't be improved then in 2009 we will be loosing 60-70 hp to Ferrari, no sence then to be in f1. I am really big fan of French manufactorers I love Renault and Pegeot, this critics just bursting out of my heart, I just can not look at what is going on with my favorite team. Guys wake up!!! You just placed to f1 as a leaders in any kind of engines!! Also I start thinking that Flavio is old if he let things to become so bad, like he did not no that new regulation about engines is for 5 years and that was crucial to create th best engine, why that point was left without attention? At the end I would like to know what the Renault team is going o do about all of that in the future, can we (fans) hope that such mistake will not be made anymore and if the engine will be modified for 2009?

hello and welcome to the site f1RG, that's an interesting question and I'm sure Renault are looking into to ways of making there engine output power more effiecently and refining the lubricants. But its not going unnoticed by Renault that's for sure.

interesting point rfg1. Last thing I read was that Renault's engine department had been turned into a maintenance site after the engine freeze. So unfortunately it will take time to get the place back to a research and development centre making new parts to improve the engine ... or as Ferrari says "to improve the reliability".
RF1PP any news on what's going up in Viry? I hope the engine research is up and running 100% like in the previous years.

Amazingly there was no safety car or any major accidents, just goes to show these a the top drivers around the world. I'm think it was right that Ferarri only got a 10,000 euro fine it would have been harsh on Massa + there wasn't an accident. As usual the itv comentators exagerate the matter and make it seem like the everyone is against mclaren and Ferrari get let of to easily typical of them

We are repeating our selves nearly every Monday now, always saying "bad luck, wait hopefully for next race, engine needs more power and a lot of other excuses. This has been going for too long now, ok we made progress but how much?? to see our car in great inferiority in acceleration is so much humiliating even for a great fan like me. We have to do something that gets results otherwise we can say goodbye for next year from now.
An unhappy fan

I was in the GP yesterday and I just couldn't believe what happened to Fernando. I couldn't help a couple of tears from the frustation I felt, especially because it was really hard for me to get to the circuit in the first place and I was really excited to see a live GP. I had a problem with my car on my way to Valencia and I almost missed the race. Finally I was able to make it to the circuit only to see how Fernando couldn�t even finished the first lap.

However, I want to say that it was still worth it. I love F1 and I'm a great admirer of Fernando and Renault. At least I could enjoy the qualifying and the trainings. Fernando, keep on, have pacience, you will win again! siempre estaremos contigo!!

Also, I'd like to encourage the team and Piquet as well, for their immense effort and profesionality. Keep pushing Renault, you will make it in the end!!!!

it was a terrible race and to say disappointing is an understatement. at least we were quick enough to kill that poor bird!!!!!
i was hoping alonso and renault would be world champions again this year or even 2009 but if this is what improving is then maybe alonso would be better moving on to a team that is making noticible improvements.
sorry to sound so harsh but alonso deserves so much better.

Until 2011 there's Ferrari, McLaren and maybe there will be BMW-Sauber, the rest are grid fillers.

For RF1 the situation is can the at least keep this position instead of going backwards.

With Alonso gone to Ferrari and an ever bigger engine gap I don't think so.

we waited 3 weaks for this race but Alonso just went 1 lap. it was terible. I did not want to believe my eyes. I think renault should focus for R29. I dont have any expectation from R28 any more

Oh look on the bright side....we could be Force India fans....and there's testing this week...it might just be more exciting than the race!

spirit alonso
aupa nano! yesterday bad for your fans.alonso alonso alonso

Alonso did a driving error at that kerb , so he lost the Q3 and put himself on the middle of the grid where a touch-crash is very possible , and did happened. Even with less HP he could be at Q3.
F1 is about horsepower and still I CAN'T BELIEVE that we are behind the others. RF1 always had powerful , drivable , and reliable engines. (Even Schumi has a champ with RENAULT , and Williams is just a filler after Renault's departure from F1).
The question is if is running any engine's upgrade. The need of more HP is obvious not now , but nearly from the season's start. Alonso many times pointed this need. As the engine stands now we can't expect to be in front of Toyota or Torro Rosso at Spa. Another thing to notice , is the more wings we use for grip (to make Bridgestones to work) the more HP we need , for not loosing speed. Without engine's upgrade we can't be optimistic about position 4 at the end of this season.
I want to say that Pos.4 is a compromise for this season. The main target must be the R29 , and don't forget R29 will wear the same engine.

I would like to first say that I believe the Renault F1 team does the best job of any team at taking care of its Fans.
The Valencia race seems to indicate the Renault engines are producing less power than its rivals do. The Ferrari engine is clearly producing more; this is evident in the fortunes of the Toro Roso and the Red Bull teams. It is also clear that the M-B engines are producing more power as well. This can�t be verified because the engines are not available for other teams. It is evident at this point that the power advantage of these teams cannot be overcome by aero upgrades, chassis modifications and employing the best driver in F1. Renault probably has the best aero design in F1 right now and is still not a regular podium finisher.
If the engine freeze continues into 2009 the results will be the same. Initially there may be a few upsets, but with a 30 to 40 HP advantage the order of competitiveness will remain the same.
If the team under ideal circumstances can only get a forth place in the constructors championship than does it make sense for RF1 to pour millions of dollars into an endeavor that is clearly stacked against the team?
Ferrari engines are available as customer engines, should RF1 drop the R27 and buy the Ferrari engines until the engine freeze has changed?
It is obvious at this point that the engine freeze is foolish and will eventually destroy the sport. I think a message should be sent to the FIA that the engine freeze as it is now is not a good idea.

As Siberianlady wisely put it, let's just put it all aside and focus on what's gonna come next: namely, Spa. With a new engine, which won't be everybody's case, becoming thus a serious advantage AND with much less pressure because not in Spain.
Obviously I won't hide I was seriously disappointed at the way things turned. I didn't even realize at first. I was trying to figure where he was in the traffic and all of a sudden I heard the commentators starting; "Oh my God, oh my God". That was... dreadful lol. Anyways, as frustrating as it must be to the team and most importantly to the victim of this ridiculous mistake made by Nakajima... Let's just forget this ever happened and try to get the best out of this promising car in Belgium. From what I saw Friday, and in the first moments of Saturday afternoon, Fer did a pretty good job with it. So it's all that matters. This, and the prospects of a better season next year. After a week end like this, things can only get better. That's cliché, yes, but rarely inaccurate.

27-28 August Piquet,29 August Alonso is true RF1 PP?

We don't want a Ferrari engine. Firstly because it's not reliable and secondly because it just has to be a Renault engine, which is probably the main reason why Renault invests in F1.

The ENGINEers just needs to get rehired to start with our 'engine-reliability-process'.

The pace is there, hopefully we will see it at full force at Spa!

I m reminding other members that renault was one of the first team who was for this rule about engine freezing because it reduces a cost in F1, but there is one key in this rule, renault want a freezing in the middle of 2006 season when renault engine was more powerful then ferrari and others, but ferrari want engine freezing in the end of 2006 and engine freezing was happened in the end of 2006 because FIA is the ferraris extended hand.And that was bad for renault because in the second part of season ferrari had a better engine...

@49
you're right, we need to remain patient...getting grumpy on here certainly isn't going to make the car go faster.

ok it was a rubbish result this weekend and luck didn't go our way and this seems worse as Valencia was built up over the 3 week break to be a great overtaking circuit where due to it being new any team had the chance to get a good result and of course we all got our hopes up..just to have them dashed so quickly.

Have faith..we have an experienced team who have won championships and the finest driver in the business.
There are still an awful lot of points still to be won this year and if we can have a bad luck weekend so can the others

@51 But if we start using the reliability excuse than we will not see an end to the current regulations. If that is what it takes then we must do it. I suggestted the Ferrari Engines to show that the regulations are not working. I agree there would be something not right about a Renault with a Ferrari engine. But it would be a way of staying up with Ferrari.

Thanks, don-vincenzo, I did not know how the freeze came about.

The lack of some bhp is not something we can't overcome.

We can even gain power with less expenses if we learn from what previous teams has done to gain some power, such as thinner lubricants, better oil system and whatever other teams did to their engine. Don't tell me they cant find out what kind of adjustments Ferrari or Mclaren did to improve their engine.

its deeply depressing, but it has to be faced that this weekend was pretty sh*t... lets get the engine boys back on engine development like the likes of ferrari obviously are, can't imagine why they have had 2 engine blow ups with those frozen spec engines!! and rf1 should move to full effort on 2009 asap.. if af is going to throw a sulk about the rest of the season being written off then so be it, the team must come first..

lets all get real about this season.. its a write off!

you can't polish a turd!

rup

Well I still get ecxcited about every race like a little kid at christmas and as I'm off to spa next week I am totally out of control- so good luck guys for the next race- for me always the best of the season no matter what happens!

So according to some of you Renault should put a Ferrari engine inside there car...WOW!! is that a joke? And people calling this season a write off..why? I understand everyone is frustrated (including myself) but all this is just silly and wasting negative energy.. seriously everyone should take chill pill.

i think that ferrari engine is not good for better performance, there is too many other things wich makes sucess not just engine, my god Force India have ferrari engine and they are not the best.First R26 are have keel suspension, because car was completely adapted to michelin tyres, and than came R27 and adapting to the bridgestone and we see a lot of problems, and now R28 have no-keel suspension because they figured out that ferrari have no-keel suspension and that s completely new logic to build a car, second thing is mass dampers which are banned because renault use it and than are in use again,that s ridiculuous, i go to wide but there are so many reasons why we are not competitive not just engine...

to be honest im so bored of everyone moaning why cant you all create a forum and take your negativity some where else cause i for one am suck and tired of it

The Ferrari Engine has been sensative to hot races since the begging of the year.

hey guys only just mnaged get on here wat a disapointment yday was!!but hey we still a team and a team helps ppl thru the bad times. i no as fans we getin annoyed, impatient, frustrated etc but i no that one day it will all pay off .. we shal be celebrating fernando winning again ... beating hamilton .. it will hapen people i just know it will.. ther wil be nothn to stop this team but u imagine if alonso signed on to this now and read what some of the so called fans of him and Renault were saying.. i think he would be shocked. this is a time where Fernando needs his fans more than ever. AND we got to support him so come on Nando , keep ur spirits up. i for one belive in you. xx

That is exactly what I am trying to say, why Renult laid off the engineers in Viry, when situation requires them to find the power we are lacking? Who's bright desicion to save some money on that. One thought scares me mostly, Renault is not making anything to improve situation while Ferrari and Mersedes are looking for more HP, can anyone imagine in what kinf of situation we will end up by the beginning of 2009 season. I respectfully asking
RF1 Paddock Pass let us know what exactly is being done right now about improving the engine or are there any ideas at least that Renault will try to make engine stronger?

@64 When the engine freeze was stablished, Renault stopped engine development, cause that was the point of the rule.
Unfortuntaly other teams legally but unethically decided to exploit the loophole in the rule which allows you to change parts for reliability reasons.
So now we're in a position that Renault will have to spend again to improve the engine and the rule has become totally useless (it's aim was to reduce costs)
RF1 Paddock Pass we (sad fans) would really appreciate if you could confirm us that Viry is back up running at 100%. Working on improving engine ... "reliability"

In the very heart of the debate about engine freeze I read an article explaining (or confirming) what has been said on the subject.

http://www.f1technical.net/news/?sid=846 ...

fernando will always have his fans alonsonum1 and i will support him always. the team are doing a terrible job at the moment and it seems they have gone backwards rather than forwards.if they are to secure fernando next year then they need to show him they are still the best team, only its not looking that way!!!!
the only way fernando will be world champion again is with ferrari!

@ 52 don-vizenzo. FIA NEVER WOULD DECIDE A LAW AGAINST FERRARI. NEVER , NEVER ,NEVER.
Renault as far as i know didn't say "let's freeze the engines right now, on the middle of 2006 season , because this moment i have the best one." Is naive believing this. Renault was THE VICTIM of maFIA's hunting at 2006 season. Renault as manufacturer has a tradition of high efficiency with law costs. Renault's point of view , is NOT FREEZING ENGINES , FREEZING COSTS. Freezing engines is the best gift for Ferrari , because they have HIGH cover to liquefy a freezing engine.
Setting o top limit of money , the same for all teams , is the spirit of real freezing . Winner on that case , is the best on the research and developing with the same amount. Right know the freezing is a tale for the kids and naives.
Now me are trapped in a freezing situation , and as good boys we have promised that we will be for many years in F1. We can't even threat with a draw back . The way out of this situation is doing the same the others did. But someone must let us know if RF1 move on this way.

I have just read terrible news on www.f-1.ru where it was discussed what is going on with Reanult engines, all experts saying that Torro Roso looked much stronger then Renault, everyone pointed out that Renault is loosing because of much weaker engine. F. Briatore said: "We are not working on the engine at all, nothing is getting improved at this moment, we are strictly following freeze up rule" WHAT!!! Which side he is on??? On Ferrari side?? How can he be relaxed about the engine??? What does that following with the rule give to Renault??-5th position this year and 8th in the next?? So they want to save money and not to care about the teams prestige, how about fans???? How about partners, they do not want to see such results, finally how about sport spirit?? - to win at any price. What are we saving money or trying to be fastes?? I am lost, do not know what to think.....

@67 hmmmm I think the car was alot better that it showed in Valencia and that was mainly Fernado fault. He made 2 mistakes in Q2 that cost him getting into Q3. I think if he had not made those mistakes he would have been 4th or 5th on the grid. After all he did make the 9th fastest time in qualifing and that was in Q1. As much as I like Fernando, you need to put blame where blame is due. Renault (as a team) are doing an outstanding job.

"Ferrari knew of engine failure risk" is the title of an article in f1-live.com.
Then ,i ask ,why did they run this engine? Did they want to do a gift to McLaren? No ,No , NO....
1. Or they aren't capable to run healthy a frozen engine
2 . Or they try something new in this frozen engine , something that improves the reliability.
This is the way they work.
Amen.

Well to be honest what Flav says publicly doesn't count for much. They obviously need to improve engine performance if they want to be serious about racing. No matter how stronge they are aerodynamically they lose places on the start cause of lack of HP.

@grip. I hope to be other thing what Flav. says and other thing what RF1 does. But until now seems to be the same. Aren't they?

Oh god why are people still waffling on about engines. People are actually interested in if ferrari using the latest specification of olive oil in there engines or if Renault have found the extra horse-power they need by running there engines on a mixture of coco beans and rabbit droppings ladidada..

Renault have just discovered that if they boil there engines in a lava of soap it increases driverbility covers the competitors in bubbles

@68 it s not all about engine, it s michelin tyres too, it s mass dampers....amd about engine, ferrari discovered some hole about fuel pump and they worked successfuly on improvement of fuel pump....

can we just stop with the engine talk ? majority of us havent a clue wot we on abuot. not been funny but we dont. we arent in an f1 team are we lol