Day 1 - 13 APR 2005

Giancarlo Fisichella, R25-03, 171 laps Franck Montagny, R25-05, 159 laps

The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team today completed the first day of a three-day test at Paul Ricard.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Franck Montagny were on duty for the team, conducting set-up programmes as well as long-term research and development work. Both drivers completed high mileage, Fisichella without problems while Montagny's day was cut short by a mechanical issue.

Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk commented:

«Giancarlo was running at this circuit for the first time today, so we spent the morning improving the car set-up and giving him time to get use to the track. Visually, it looks very different from the driving seat, with the run-off areas and types of kerb, so it can take drivers a little longer to acclimatise than at a more standard venue.

«Fisi completed a very good day's running overall and after the problems he experienced in Barcelona, it was good for him to run without any incidents. He worked on car set-up all day, for Imola and beyond, and was confident with the results.

«Franck concentrated on longer term R&D work, combined with a small amount of set-up development and tyre testing. His day was cut slightly short with a mechanical problem, but we will continue our programmes with tyre development for Imola tomorrow.»

DRIVER - TEAM - BEST1 DLR McLaren  1:03.4812 FIS Renault 1:03.8433 MON Renault 1:03.9014 PAN Toyota 1:03.9165 BER BAR 1:03.9586 ZON Toyota 1:04.2167 SAT BAR 1:04.3208 WUR McLaren 1:04.3389 PIZ Williams 1:04.94210 HEI Williams 1:06.08611 KAR Jordan 1:07.413

Click here for the Official Giancarlo Fisichella web site - designed and built by Racecar