23 March: Paul Ricard Testing, Day 1 Franck
Montagny, R25-05, 150 laps Heikki Kovalainen, R25-06, 143 laps
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team today completed the
first of three days of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in Southern France. The team ran with two R25 chassis, and today marked
Heikki Kovalainen’s first run in the 2005 car.
Worked focused primarily on reliability running, and tyre testing for the
Bahraini Grand Prix, looking at performance and endurance development of the Michelin tyres for the forthcoming race.
Chief
Test Engineer Christian Silk commented: “Our programme today was about doing as much mileage as possible: we have two
2005 chassis available to the test team extremely early, and we will endeavour to make the most of that situation. Heikki did a good
job on his first run in the car, while Franck continued to get a feel for its performance after his first test in Jerez a fortnight
ago. We got positive results from our programmes, and confirmed our tyre results ahead of Bahrain. Tomorrow, the drivers will have
the opportunity to concentrate on set-up work and begin exploring the car’s performance.”
