Renault ran a three-driver set-up for the opening day of the Austrian Grand Prix with race drivers Jolyon Palmer and Nico Hülkenberg joined by Third and Reserve driver Sergey Sirotkin on track.
Sergey ran in Nico's car in the morning, with the German returning for FP2 to post the ninth fastest lap, at 1 min 06.735secs.
“The afternoon went okay for me,” Nico said. “As I was only out in FP2, I had a little bit of catch-up to do, but I got in to the groove quite rapidly. I had a decent run on the Ultrasoft tyres whereas the long runs looked a bit more challenging on the harder compound. I struggled a little with car balance in this afternoon so there is a bit more ground work to be done to improve the overall package.”
Whilst Sergey and Jolyon had smooth morning sessions, Jolyon's afternoon was interrupted by an electrical problem
“I had a positive morning as I was happy with the car straight away and it felt like the best FP1 out of the box for a while,” Jolyon said. “We did a bit of fine tuning and I was feeling quite confident and comfortable on the track. It's a shame we had an electrical problem in the afternoon and couldn't get more laps in. The team is looking into it and the car should be good to go tomorrow morning.”
