Jean Alesi has hailed Bruno Senna’s qualifying performance as ‘phenomenal’ for someone who had experienced the R31 for just a handful of laps in the wet during practice.
Senna managed to qualify seventh for Renault on his debut weekend for the outfit before making an error into turn one which cost him several places and a front-wing.
Nonetheless, former race winner Alesi, believes the 26-year-old did the ‘Senna’ name proud.
“To have qualified ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and his Lotus Renault team-mate was a huge achievement, having had so little time in the car,” the Group Lotus ambassador said.
“Bruno was under a lot of pressure to be fast and channeled that pressure to great effect. He did the Senna name proud,” declared the Frenchman.
“Overall I think he should be pleased with his weekend. I’m sure he kicked himself after braking too late for the first corner and hitting Jaime Alguersuari, but he did a phenomenal job in qualifying to line up seventh on the grid.
“The first corner, La Source, is always tricky because it’s not a very long run down from the start, so everyone arrives together, on cold tyres, and it’s very tight. There are always accidents, you have to be very careful, and Bruno wasn’t the only one to make a mistake. Fortunately he was able to continue and though he finished out of the points, in 13th, he still got a full race distance under his belt, which is very important.”
