PAUL RICARD TESTING - 3 day round-up

Cars:                RB2-04 and RB2-05Drivers:             Tuesday:  Christian Klien         (259 km, 1:07.016)Robert Doornbos         (293 km 1:07.760)Best time overall 1:05.696        (Alonso)

Wednesday: Christian Klien         (175 km, 1:05.577)David Coulthard       (165 km, 1:06.083)Best time overall 1:05.363         (Alonso)

Thursday: David Coulthard         (469 km, 1:26.172)Robert Doornbos         (224 km, 1:26.498)Best time overall 1:25.379        (Villeneuve)

Circuit length:      3.593 km (track version 2D-SC) on Tuesday-Wednesday5.406 (track version 1E-SC) on Thursday

Critics of Formula One often say it is all an illusion and for the past three days, the Red Bull  Racing  team,  along  with  several  others,  have  created  the  very  clever  illusion  of racing  through  the  streets  of  Monaco  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  before  magically switching to the track in Montreal, just a short hop across the Atlantic. This was all madepossible by the variety of track layouts on offer at the Paul Ricard HTTT testing facility in the south of France.

On  the  first  two  days  of  testing,  the  car  were  running  in  maximum  aerodynamic downforce configuration, as well as adopting a chassis set-up suited to the twisty streets of Monte Carlo. Also on the agenda was defining which two types of tyre to take to the next   round   of   the   championship.  

In   addition,   new   suspension   items   were   under evaluation.

The final day saw a change of track and a switch to the other extreme in terms of running very low Canadian downforce levels. "Today was hectic as we packed in Canadian tyre choice  work,  car  set-up  and  development  work," commented  Chief  Test  Engineer,  Ian Morgan. "Over the three days, we learnt quite a bit about the car which will serve us well over the next couple of races, however, problems with engines and some development parts on the gearbox meant we did not complete as many laps as we would have liked."