Gascoyne: No regrets on Friday testing
Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne says the team's decision to take part in Friday testing this year was, with hindsight, an excellent one. He expects the Italian Grand Prix to be a case in point
"People thought we would miss out on development time, but it's not necessarily like that," said Gascoyne. "We've actually completed more testing miles this year than at the same stage in 2002. We've had to do them in less time, and at a lesser cost. That means that other areas have had a greater budget. So we've put more money into the wind tunnel and parts for the car. Generally speaking we've become more efficient."
Renault should see the fruits of this investment at Monza, where they will be running special Monza-specific bodywork and aerodynamic devices.
"This year we've spent two or three weeks in the wind tunnel, to achieve this special Italian Grand Prix package," added Gascoyne. "That's the result of better use of resources."
"When your resources are limited, you have to make the best use of what's available. We've been much better at managing our test-session time this year. We've had excellent benefits from running three cars on a Friday morning, and we've also learnt ways of working that we can apply to our private test sessions."
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