Kovalainen rues missed track time

The Renault driver slammed his car into the wall at Turn 8 and could only complete 13 laps of a circuit he had run on for the first time this morning.

The Finn, however, believes he completed enough mileage to learn the track and, despite his accident, he was happy with the car's handling.

"It was disappointing to hit the wall this afternoon and lose running time in the second session, but this is a demanding circuit where one small mistake can cost you a lot," said Kovalainen, who finished at the bottom of the times.

"Apart from that small error, though, I think it was quite a good start to the weekend.

"The car balance felt pretty good this morning: the handling was neutral, and I could attack the braking zones well. My timed lap wasn't perfect, but the package felt quite competitive.

"In terms of the second session, there isn't much to say: I had one run on old tyres, then went out on the softer tyre but I made a mistake in turn 7, ran wide on the exit and hit the wall quite hard. It damaged the suspension, but also punctured the rear tyre, which meant I couldn't make it back to the pits.

"I did enough laps today to learn the circuit, and the challenge now will be to find the right set-up in the final session, and get comfortable using both types of tyre."

Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella enjoyed a better day, posting the eighth quickest time in the afternoon.

The Italian, who scored his best result of the season in Monaco, was encouraged by his showing and believes Renault could be performant again.

"I think this was a good first day for us, and the performance seems quite good," he said. "Everybody could see that the track was very dirty and low grip today, so it wasn't easy to work on the balance as the conditions were changing all the time. But we made some good improvements, and the car felt good by the end of the second session.

"My feeling with the car is similar to the low downforce test we did at Paul Ricard, and the handling is much more consistent, which confirms the step forward we made in Monaco."