Formula 1

Zonta ends Paul Ricard test on top

The week's testing at the Paul Ricard HTTT came to a close on April 7th with seven drivers from four teams at work on the French circuit. Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta was at the top of the time sheet, his best a 1:04.157, and fellow team test driver ...

Published: Apr 8, 2006, 4:49 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

The week's testing at the Paul Ricard HTTT came to a close on April 7th with seven drivers from four teams at work on the French circuit. Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta was at the top of the time sheet, his best a 1:04.157, and fellow team test driver Olivier Panis rounded off the list in seventh. Their programme for the week was mostly tyres and aerodynamics.

Ricardo Zonta.

Photo by Toyota Racing.

"We have made some improvement, which I hope proves well at Imola, because this is a circuit that is hard for graining, especially when the track is still dirty," said Zonta. "Paul Ricard has a similar track surface and the tyre choice we've made this week seems to do well. Now we just need to keep concentrated and keep pushing."

Giancarlo Fisichella was the sole Renault present and was second quickest, just under two tenths behind Zonta. The Italian had a relatively trouble free day while working on tyres. "We completed today our programme to prepare Imola and the tyre work was very encouraging," said chief test engineer Christian Silk.

"Giancarlo did a great job once again and seemed to be very satisfied with the car and its behaviour to set up changes and to the new envelops. We are going to Barcelona next week which promise to be a very busy session!"

McLaren's test driver duo of Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett were third and fourth fastest respectively. De la Rosa spent his week working in the MP4-21 on suspension, dampers, set up and tyres. Paffett piloted the interim MP4-20 with the restricted V10 engine and his focus was tyres for the forthcoming European races.

"This has been an intensive and productive three days of testing at Paul Ricard," said de la Rosa. "We are continuing to make positive progress, which we will carry over to next week when Kimi (Raikkonen) and Juan Pablo (Montya) will be testing at Barcelona before the return to racing at Imola."

After the McLarens came a pair of BMW Saubers, tester Robert Kubica fifth and Nick Heidfeld sixth. Kubica worked on set up, tyres and electronics, while Heidfeld focused on set up, brakes and aerodynamic validation. The German's afternoon running was curtailed by a hydraulic problem.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article BMW Sauber gets closer to the fans

Next article McLaren Paul Ricard test summary 2006-04-05/07

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Liam Lawson rues Brazilian GP qualifying mistake despite third-place grid start

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

59 min

Liam Lawson rues Brazilian GP qualifying mistake despite third-place grid start

George Russell's Brazilian GP qualifying fury explained: "Pole was there for the taking"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

George Russell's Brazilian GP qualifying fury explained: "Pole was there for the taking"

F1 Brazilian GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

F1 Brazilian GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch

Lewis Hamilton insists Ferrari tensions with Charles Leclerc are over: "We've squashed it"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Lewis Hamilton insists Ferrari tensions with Charles Leclerc are over: "We've squashed it"

Feature

Discover prime content

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Filip Cleeren

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts