Weather hampers Silverstone test

The first day of testing at Silverstone circuit was washed out by standing water and snow storms. Renault, Red Bull and Jordan were all hoping to carry out final shakedowns before shipping their cars out to Australia but the appalling conditions allowed the teams very little running and just five installation laps were completed.

Continuous light snow prevented any running in the morning session and the afternoon session started with a heavy snow storm. The sun came out mid-afternoon and the marshals tried to remove the standing water from around the circuit. Some of the drivers tested the track conditions in road cars and eventually the first Formula One car took to the circuit at 3.14pm.

David Coulthard completed a single slow installation in his Red Bull followed a few minutes later by Renault's test driver Franck Montagny. The Frenchman used the slippery conditions to carry out tests of the traction control system by doing practice starts and accelerating hard in short bursts around the circuit. Montagny completed three installation laps in quick succession and then Coulthard returned for one more lap.

A large grey cloud quickly covered the sky and heavy snow brought the session to an end half an hour early as visibility was reduced to just a few metres and the track was in a dangerous condition. Red Bull had only intended to run the one day so packed up their equipment and left the circuit leaving Jordan, who did not run at all, and Renault to continue tomorrow with the McLaren team also scheduled to attend.