F1 | Renault, Nick Chester: “We have to adapt to any weather conditions”

The French team is confident for Sunday's race, despite the placings of its two drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, in seventeenth and eighteenth position in the second free practice session.

Renault brought a new front wing, which seems to have worked well; traffic prevented the pair of drivers from setting a fastest lap on the clock.

Hopes, therefore, are pinned on Sunday's qualifying session.

"Our pace on race pace actually looks pretty good, but we weren't able to show our true potential in the low-load simulations at the end of the session” revealed Nick Chester, Renault's technical director at the end of the day.

"We were stuck in traffic, with the other cars doing long runs. We tested the new front wing and managed to find the right setup to make it work best. With the planned weekend program we need to put everything together at the right time, but leave some flexibility to adapt to any weather conditions".

Typhoon Hagibis is creating several problems for the entire weekend organization, but safety comes first.

"It was a common sense decision to postpone qualifying until Sunday – said Cyril Abiteboul – with the typhoon's expected path it would not be wise to have cars on the track or spectators in the stands. Canceling qualifying well in advance allows us to properly plan and take appropriate actions for team personnel and fans".