Kovalainen says more to come from Renault

The Finnish driver, who has finished in the points in the last five races, set the 10th quickest time of the afternoon, nearly two seconds off the pace.

But Kovalainen reckons his time did not reflect the car's potential, and he is upbeat for tomorrow.

"We got a lot done today, working on the set-up and comparing the two tyres," said Kovalainen.

"The timesheets didn't reflect the car's full potential, because I had traffic on my quickest lap at the end of the session, and I think there is more to come from the set-up as well as I work with my engineers this evening.

"I think we made a good start to our programme, and we can continue in the same way tomorrow."

Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was also pleased with his day's work after posting the seventh fastest time.

"This was a good day for us. We got a good answer comparing the two types of Bridgestone tyre, and in terms of the car's handling and set-up, our situation is getting better and better," he said.

"There is still some work to do tonight after we have analysed the data, but I think we can say "so far, so good" at this point."