The opening day of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the America's marked former Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz's debut behind the wheel with Renault Sport Formula One Team.
Sainz registered the eleventh fastest time in FP2, five thousandths of a second ahead of new teammate Nico Hรผlkenberg, who finished twelfth overall.
Carlos's insight was fresh and useful, and by the end of the day his feeling about the car was consistent with Nico's. The Spaniard fitted in really quickly; he was up to speed very rapidly and did a great job in the eyes of the team.
ย "It's been a busy week with everything other than driving the car so it was fantastic to get out and drive for the team for the first time today!โ he said. โThere was a lot to learn so I'm happy we ran through everything required. We made good progress, but we've got work to do as you'd expect. Tomorrow will certainly be interesting for my first qualifying session with Renault.โ
ย The rain in the morning forced the team to adjust their programme, but they were able to get through most of their test items and gain most of the answers they were looking for. ย Overall it was a reasonable day for Nico and his comments about the car were consistent with the feedback he's given in recent events.
โIt wasn't an ideal Friday on my side of the garage, but it's certainly not the end of the world. We need to get the car into its sweet spot. We know what we need to improve on the car. After a moist start to the day, the track was developing all the time. Of course, it's always great to drive the Circuit of the Americas, and I'm sure we have more in hand for tomorrow.โ
