Renault Debuts New Exhaust, No F-Duct for Valencia

Renault will not use the F-duct system in Valencia, despite their hard efforts to have the new system ready by this weekend's European Grand Prix. The Enstone based team has confirmed that the unit is not ready for implementation just yet and that it will only be fitted onto the 2010 challenger once it will have undergone all the necessary aero testing.

“We are not introducing it this weekend, but it will appear very soon,” Renault's team principal Eric Boullier told Auto Hebdo ahead of this weekend's race.

While initially pretty clear on the fact that they won't alter the aerodynamic development of their 2010 car with such a system – which will actually be banned next year – Renault agreed that the F-duct could bring them some valuable tenths of a second per lap in the future. However, it seems they will wait until the British GP to finally run it.

In the meantime, Robert Kubica doesn't seem too affected by this decision, as he lapped the Valencia street circuit 4th fastest in the morning practice. The Pole was actually the only driver who managed to keep some sort of pace with the leading trio Nico Rosberg-Lewis Hamilton-Jenson Button (all using F-duct on their cars), ending FP1 half of second behind them.

Unlike some of its rivals however, Renault have instead readied an own version of the Red Bull-type exhausts, to which Kubica himself expressed some doubts ahead of the European GP. Asked about the advantage the low-profiled exhaust will give to Renault this weekend, the Pole said: “(...) there might be some positive effect but also some negative effects, we'll have to see.”