Day One       17 November 2008

Driver:       Sebastien LoebCar:          RB4 - 05Time:         1:22.503, Laps: 82

Fastest Lap: T. Sato   1:20.763

Circuit length: 4.655 km

TOO FAST FOR THE FORESTS!

The first test of the winter got underway today in Spain and, at the wheel of theRB4,  as  part  of  a  "thank  you"  from  Red  Bull  for  winning  the  World  RallyChampionship yet again, our driver was Sebastien Loeb.Having had a shakedown at Silverstone last week, the Frenchman had a betteridea  of  what  to  expect  and  produced  an  excellent  performance  throughout  theday. After spending most of the morning settling in and finding a good balance onthe car, Loeb was actually put to more "serious" use in the afternoon, evaluatingthe Bridgestone slick tyres that will be used in 2009 and providing the team withvaluable data.

"I don't think I'd like to take this much horsepower into the forests!" quipped theFrenchman. "It was a great experience and I had fun, although I have to say thatdriving one of these cars is tougher physically than driving my rally car. Towardsthe  end  of  the  day,  I  began  to  get  a  good  feel  for  the  car  and  enjoyed  thesensation of it moving around on the track. I have to say that the level of grip inthe high speed corners is very impressive."

Tuesday, our new race driver, Sebastian Vettel takes over for the remaining twodays of the test.