Kovalainen behind the wheel of MP4-24 for the first time

First day of testing for the McLaren Mercedes team in familiar conditions at Jerez. Heikki Kovalainen ran a parallel programme, focusing on developing useful set-ups for the new car while also putting mileage on the car’s active KERS device.

The team set itself prudent targets on both thermal and pressure thresholds in order to safeguard the machinery and this resulted in a few aborted runs when those thresholds were reached. Heikki felt the KERS device worked well but required further work in concert with the car’s set-up to produce optimum results. As much of the day’s work was exploratory, the team chose to undertake most of its work on a single set of dry tyres choosing only to switch to fresh rubber – and set its fastest lap – towards the end of the day. The team will continue with the same programme tomorrow and is optimistic of increasing the length of the runs as it increases its understanding of the KERS device.