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Mike Gascoyne Q&A

Renault has given the Sepang paddock a surprise by putting both cars on the front row for tomorrow's Malaysian GP, fine performances from Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli making the most of a very strong package. The cars had been quick in every session and the team benefited from the priceless extra running in Friday's two-hour test in which the two race drivers and Allan McNish logged 127 laps before the serious opposition set foot on the track. Will that form be carried over into the race? Adam Cooper asked technical director Mike Gascoyne for his thoughts



"It's more valuable than we thought. We'd made our tyre choice by Friday morning. In Melbourne there were a lot of different tyres - Michelin brought five - but here everyone's got predominantly the same tyres. The softer tyre, which we hadn't done a lot of running on, was from the Jerez test last week. We did a clear back to back, it was quicker, and for us it was very consistent. So we had no worries. So from the long runs we did on Friday morning, we decided the tyre was fine. I think some of the others have had to take the harder tyre. Our chassis doesn't use up its tyres."



"I think they struggled to get a balance on it, whereas we did 40 extra laps with each driver, and if you count the total number of laps people have done, that's a helluva lot. I think we've attacked that session properly, three cars, experienced test driver, and we've maximised everything from it. But we've been top six all weekend, and we were top six or eight all through Melbourne, and we got qualifying wrong. We expected to be top six here, but both our drivers did mega laps. If you watch it back, you'll see Rubens make a little mistake, Raikkonen make a mistake... Our two guys didn't. I think the pace of the car is probably second or third row, but they pulled it out of the bag."



"We were rather hoping that the cloud cover was going to come a bit earlier for our guys, and whether that's good or bad, who knows."



"We didn't go out to be on the front row. We were on the optimum strategy. We're a proper racing team, and you're only going to get results if you do the right strategy. If we're on the right strategy, and we win the race, that's it. It's one of those things. Michael can sit there and think 'they're going to peel off into the pits after 10 laps and do three stops.'



"Yes, maybe they'll say 'they're doing this or doing that,' and they're not necessarily going to get it right. Isn't that what the rules are meant to bring into it? You don't know. They're all going to be going, 'Renault aren't going to do it.' Well, what if we do?"



"It's all high speed corners. There are a couple of long straights, but this is more of a handling circuit. If the engine is not the best, what you don't what is stop-start. You don't want chicane, drag, chicane, drag, chicane, drag. The chassis can make up for it in high-speed corners. One of the circuits where everyone says the engine will hurt you is Monza. But there you've got quick corners, and you can make up for it with a good chassis. Canada is dreadful. Here we've been really quick in T2, but we've struggled in T1 [mostly tight corners]. Really we were surprised we were as competitive as we were in Melbourne, qualifying apart, so coming here, we were confident."



"I think they are both excellent. Anyone who wanted to know why we picked Fernando over Jenson, I don't think that question is going to be asked any more. He answered that in the opening laps in Melbourne, but he's done it again today. They work very well together, and you saw it in the press conference today. Unlike the Button/Villeneuve thing, they get on very well, and they actually help each other, but they know when they get in the car that the other bloke is bloody quick, and they really have to pull their finger out. Credit to Jarno, because he saw Fernando do that lap, and he went out there and matched it, and didn't put a foot wrong. Great effort."



"We're going to try to win the race. Front row is where you want to be, and our starts haven't been the worst in the world over the last year, we're on what we think is the quickest strategy. We now just want a nice standard race with no rain, and two cars on the podium."



"McLaren ran this tyre in Jerez. Ron said we're the track cleaners for him, but basically he's our two-car tyre test team, and tyre testing costs a lot more than track cleaning does!"

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