McLaren Silverstone test summary 2006-04-25/27

Team McLaren Mercedes concluded a three day test programme this afternoon at the Silverstone circuit in the UK. Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya were on track for the team. The morning saw the circuit closed on nine occasions, with two more red flags during the afternoon, equating about 30% of the track time available.

Kimi covered 483km, taking his total distance for the week to 673km. His fastest time of 1m18.978, which was set before lunch, saw Kimi end the day in second position on the timesheets.

Juan Pablo put in over 205km as he completed 40 laps, and his time of 1m19.676 was sixth quickest overall.

The running continued the week's work schedule, which was focused on the Michelin tyre selection process for the Spanish and British Grands Prix, the Mercedes-Benz V8 and aerodynamic development programme and general set-up.

Gary Paffett was also in attendance, to conduct a shakedown of an MP4-20 that is scheduled to be used at Goodwood later in the year.

Day One, Tuesday 25th April:

Juan Pablo was joined by Pedro de la Rosa at Silverstone. Running for both drivers was limited as rain showers during the morning left the track damp for much of the day. With conditions not appropriate for either intermediates or wet Michelins, the team would not have been able to gather any useful feedback from running on track. The two drivers covered over 400km between them, with Juan Pablo setting the fastest time of the day, with a 1m21.076.

Day Two, Wednesday 26th April:

Dry weather conditions prevailed and it allowed Juan Pablo and Kimi, who had replaced Pedro at the test, cover 560km in total as they set the fourth and fifth fastest times of the day. Both drivers spent the day running short stints, returning to the garage to put different compounds of the Michelin tyres on their MP4-21s and change set-ups, as the tyre selection process for Silverstone continued.

Kimi Raikkonen:

"We have had some productive feedback over the last two days at Silverstone, with good information on set-ups and Michelins to take into the British Grand Prix in June. As the last test before the Spanish race, we have also been focusing on completing the selection process for Barcelona with Michelin."

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"It has been good to test at Silverstone before the race here, as it means we have positive data to use going into the weekend, but there have been a lot of red flags that really do interrupt the programme. It has been really noticeable here how much faster you are through the corners now we have V8 engines, Copse, for example, is really fast and you don't really lift."

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