Robert Kubica on Renault readiness

Team Renault Drivers

With pre season testing now behind us, teams and drivers are packing up and making their way to Bahrain for the 2010 season opener that will take place on the Sakhir circuit next weekend.

Renault racer Robert Kubica has spoken to the French based squad’s official website about his thoughts on how testing went and explained that he now feels confident for the first race of the season.

Robert, after four weeks of winter testing, how are you feeling?
Overall I feel good and well integrated with the team. My first test in Valencia was a big learning experience and there were a lot of new things to understand, especially the behavior of the car and the systems. The team worked hard to make the changes I needed in time for the Jerez tests and we then found a good balance with the car and were quite competitive. This final test in Barcelona has been more difficult and we lost some important running time. But with the work we did in Jerez I’m quite confident that we have learned enough about the car to be ready for Bahrain.

How have you found running with the heavy fuel loads?
It depends on the day and which tires you are running. What will be important this year is to have a nice balance for the car over the full race distance with the changing fuel loads. You have to find the best set-up compromise between low and high fuel to have the best overall performance from the car.

Do you have any idea of where we stand relative to the other teams?
It’s so difficult to judge where we are because it changes from day to day and we don’t know what the other teams are doing or what stage of development they are at. Also, every team will have more upgrades before the first race. As I said, we were looking very promising in Jerez, but we still need more overall grip.