"Decent progress" made by team Renault

Renault’s technical director Nick Chester confirms the team have made “decent progress” throughout the second week of testing.

Yesterday, the team split session between the two drivers. Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr. put 148 laps on the car between them.

Nick Chester said: “Today we made decent progress with set-up and gained a good understanding of our latest front wing.

“We had a first taste of the softer tyres in Pirelli’s range, in super, ultra and hyper soft flavours.”

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas commented that they found managing the tyres challenging earlier in the week but the Renault pair seem to have no issues regaridng the tyres.

“The hyper soft is certainly a big step up from the rest of the range, with a big jump in lap time and grip, as well as being more durable than we expected. It will be interesting to see how this tyre will be deployed over the season.”

Commenting on yesterdays session Chester said: “Once more we completed a decent tally of laps so we have plenty to be working on ahead of the final day of testing.”

Red Bull and McLaren, who use a Renault engine, have had a few issues regarding battery power that Renault will need to have a look at.

So far it doesn’t seem to have affected the Renault team themsevles allowing them to have a fairly positive two weeks of testing.