Trulli Happy with Practice Progress

Italian driver Jarno Trulli was pleased with his day's work during practice for the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

The Renault driver, who last year finished in fourth place in the American race, completed a significant number of laps as part of Renault's usual Friday programme, posing the eighth quickest time despite a very slippery track which caused him to go off like many of his rivals.

"A good first day," admitted Trulli. "As usual, we spent our Friday concentrating on race set-up and I was able to lap without any problems. Having said that, I'm still not happy with the balance and we have some work to do before tomorrow.

"As for the track, it is still very green but I have to admit I was encouraged to see so many people here today - I enjoy competing in front of the American fans!"

Briton Jenson Button set the 13th quickest time after he stopped out on the circuit at the end of the second session after the team's telemetry indicated a potential gearbox problem.

"Although I started the day well, I didn't manage to make as much progress as I had wanted to during the two sessions," said Button. "The balance is not quite there yet and we obviously need to improve further. At the end, the team told me to pull off in order to look after the car."