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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">F-1</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">04/04/2004</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Renault Race Report</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Alonso Takes A Swipe At Jaguar</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/renault-bahrain-q-04.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team leaves Bahrain second in the Constructors' Championship, with a total of 22 points divided equally between the team's two drivers, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso. <BR> <BR> Jarno Trulli drove a perfect race to fourth position this afternoon, but cannot shake off the disappointment of seeing a podium finish escape him around the time of his third and final pit-stop. Starting from seventh, Jarno made up a place on the first lap, but a consistent, fast pace saw him gradually catching the Williams of Montoya. However, he encountered traffic on his out-lap after every stop; on the final occasion, the several seconds lost were enough to allow Jenson Button to pass him. Jarno subsequently overtook Montoya, but was unable to catch the Briton ahead of him. <BR> <BR> Fernando Alonso's race was incident-filled. Starting sixteenth, he was squeezed out at the start by one the of Jaguars; subsequently running in the midfield, he lost his front wing in a first-lap collision and rejoined the circuit thirty seconds behind the pack. After that, his race pace was among the fastest of any car and he gradually climbed through the field with a dynamic, attacking drive. However, he was unable to overtake the BAR of Sato and had to settle for sixth position in the final order. <BR> <BR> <B>Jarno Trulli, 4th position:</B> <BR> "I'm very pleased with the result, but cannot help feeling it is slightly incomplete: we were capable of getting on to the podium this afternoon. The car was perfect during the first three stints, and I was very quick, but after the final stop, it became harder to drive as I lost grip: it was quite a strange phenomenon. Also, I lost time in traffic on every out-lap after my stops, and that allowed Jenson to get by." <BR> <BR> "It is a shame that we didn't get a podium, but the overall situation after this race is fantastic: Renault is second in the Constructor's Championship, we have finished all three races with both cars and still come away thinking we could have done much better. I'm looking forward to getting to Imola." <BR> <BR> <center><IMG border="1" SRC="../Championships/Storage/renault-bahrain-q2-04.jpg" hspace="9 "></center><BR> <BR> <B>Fernando Alonso, 6th position:</B> <BR> "I did the maximum possible today. Quite honestly, I was very surprised by how some cars were being driven today: a Jaguar nearly put me in the wall at the start of the race, and then some other drivers were a little too difficult to overtake. Having said that, given the weekend I have had, three points is still a good score for the championship." <BR> <BR> "In reality, I started this race half a minute behind everybody else after my first stop, and just pushed all the way. The car balance was perfect all the way though. We have some performance evolutions coming at Imola, and I believe that with an even stronger package, and most importantly if we have some weekends without any problems, then we are capable of getting regular podium finishes." <BR> <BR> <B>Flavio Briatore, Managing Director:</B> <BR> "The entire team had a great race today. Both drivers performed fantastically and without some variables that were out of our control, the result could have been even better. We have achieved our reliability objectives for the first three races, and go into the European part of the season second in the championship. Things will continue to improve." <BR> <BR> <center><IMG border="1" SRC="../Championships/Storage/renault-bahrain-r-pit-04.jpg" hspace="9 "></center><BR> <BR> <B>Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering:</B> <BR> "We saw a very strong race from Jarno, and he was particularly unfortunate to lose a position to Button when he was held up by a Jordan after his third stop. With this exception, his race was faultless. Fernando knew things would be more of a struggle, and his cause was not helped when he had to stop at the end of the first lap. However, the team reacted well to the changed circumstances and Fernando drove his usual strong race, but did not quite have the performance edge to pass Sato." <BR> <BR> "Nevertheless, the whole team did well at this new circuit, and to move to second in the Constructors' Championship is a just reward for all the work that has been accomplished at Enstone and Viry-Châtillon." <BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>