France Friday quotes: Renault

"Magny-Cours is a circuit I always enjoy, because the two high-speed chicanes that give it something unique for the drivers, and even today we could see plenty of our fans and colleagues from Renault in the grandstands. There will be even more tomorrow and Sunday, and I hope our performance will live up to their expectations. So far, so good!"

Giancarlo Fisichella - 5th: "This was another good start to the race weekend for me, which is encouraging after my strong performance in Indianapolis. I started out the session with a bit too much oversteer so we had to make some changes to the car, but we calmed it down and it began to feel easy to drive and consistent.

"We still have some room for improvement tomorrow, but I am happy with the situation so far and I think we have got some good ideas for what we need to do in the race. This was a promising start for me."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "From the engineers' point of view, this was a normal day of Friday practice spent evaluating tyre compounds and tuning the handling of the cars.

"After some work during the second session, the R26 now seems to have a reasonably consistent balance for both drivers, and the times certainly seem competitive. We ran both types of Michelin tyre today, and the first impressions are that we are back on track after the anomaly of our performance in Indianapolis."

Denis Chevrier, Head of Trackside Engine Operations: "With weather conditions similar to those predicted for Sunday's race, this afternoon's practice session proved an ideal opportunity to begin tuning engine mapping, adjusting cooling levels and conducting our usual test work. We completed both programmes without incident, and have collected plenty of data for analysis this evening.

"The C-spec engine evolution is performing as predicted, making this a positive day from the technical perspective. A quick analysis of the timesheets also suggests we are in a strong position from a competitive point of view, so we can say it has been a good start to our home Grand Prix."