The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team completed a typically solid opening day during the first free practice sessions for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. With rain forecast for tomorrow which may limit dry running in practice, the team's objective was to complete plenty of laps and get a firm direction on car set-up with respect to the race. Both drivers completed thirty laps - two thirds race distance - with Fernando Alonso the happier of the two, after Jarno Trulli was slowed by inconsistent handling which prevented him feeling fully confident with the car.

Fernando Alonso: "I have only raced here once before, three years ago, so my aims for today were simple: to select the tyres, and then to get used to the circuit again and build up my confidence. The tyre choice is quite straightforward and although I think we have some more performance to come from the car, overall we are quite quick. I am very confident that we can be competitive for the rest of the weekend."

Jarno Trulli: "I had a bad day to be honest. I struggled with the handling of the car - there was very little grip, and that makes the handling inconsistent, switching between oversteer and understeer. If it rains all day tomorrow, it will be tough to improve the car, but we will work hard on the data this evening to try and find what is causing the problem."