Renault technical director Bob Bell insists the French team is on course to record a strong start to the 2009 season next month. With the R29 regularly observed at the bottom of winter testing timesheets, it has been suggested that Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr could be set for a frustrating campaign with the new car. But in an interview, Bell said he is “becoming increasingly more satisfied” with the uniquely shaped single seater. His comments were made as Alonso finally moved onto the pace of the other 2009 cars, while at the same time putting in more laps than usual, at the close of the Jerez test last Friday.
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Formula One’s cost-cutting measures should secure Fernando Alonso´s team-Renault’s future in the sport despite the departure of title sponsor ING, according to team boss Flavio Briatore. Dutch-based banking and insurance company ING, whose backing has provided a significant slice of the former world champions’ budget, announced earlier that they were pulling out of the sport at the end of the season. “In light of the recently announced cost reduction programme, ING confirmed today not to renew the three-year sponsorship (2007-2009) contract with Renault F1 and to end its presence in F1 beyond the 2009 season,” ING said.The team said on their website that they completely understood ING’s decision.
The Renault Formula 1 team continued testing at Jerez on Thursday. At Renault former F1 champion Fernando Alonso took over driving duties from Nelson Piquet. Alonso completed 133 laps and mainly focussed on the evaluation of the KERS system. Commenting on his day of testing Alonso said: “Today was all about getting mileage on the car, especially with the new KERS system. It was my first full dry day in the car and so I was able to learn a lot. We completed lots of laps, which is encouraging and now we will start working on the set-up of the car so that I can get more comfortable with it.”