Renault’s Vitaly Petrov finished the second days testing in Jerez ninth, just behind the Virgin of Timo Glock, but the Russian says he and the team aren’t worried about the times.
The outfit chose to concentrate on their KERS and braking systems for much of the morning and afternoon’s running.
“We were not worried about the lap times and instead we focussed on the tyres to try and understand how they work,” said Petrov. “We also did some aero mapping in the morning and then spent a lot of time working on the brakes and the KERS.”
Vitaly completed just 65 laps, compared to Felipe Massa’s 116, after the R31 suffered a water leak, curbing their time on-track.
“Unfortunately we lost some time with a water leak, which meant we could not do the race distance in the afternoon as we planned. After three days in the R31, I’m only just starting to feel really comfortable with the car and it was in the last two hours of the session that we found some good things with the set-up.”
Team principal Eric Boullier added: “Our second day in Jerez was not the easiest because we suffered with some minor technical problems. However, we still managed reasonable mileage and we have ticked off some more items on the job list.
“In particular, the work we did on the brakes and the KERS has been very beneficial and we are learning how to get the most from the system.”
Saturday will see Robert Kubica’s possible replacement, Nick Heidfeld, take to the track in an attempt to prove he’s the man for the job.
“Nick [Heidfeld] will get his opportunity in the car and this will give us the chance for a detailed evaluation before we make any decisions,” confirmed Boullier.
