To test or not to test?

After back-to-back races in Bahrain and the tropical Malaysia, this week a lot of teams will return to testing. This is the first opportunity for the teams to test again after the beginning of the season. Most race drivers head directly to Australia for the third round of the 2006 championship, so the test drivers will take the honours at tracks all across Europe this week.

The McLaren Mercedes team starts a four-day programme at the Paul Ricard Circuit in the south of France. Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett will take the wheel of the MP4-21.

The Panasonic Toyota Racing Team will join McLaren on Wednesday, when they start their three days of testing with Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta. After the disappointing race in Bahrain, these two drivers will be quite busy during these three days to improve the car.

Also the Renault F1 Team, who has won the 2 first rounds of the season will be back at testing with Heikki Kovalainen.

The BMW Sauber F1 Team race driver Nick Heidfeld doesn't get a short vacation as he and test driver Robert Kubica will be testing the F1.06.

The Williams F1 Team and Red Bull Racing Team are heading for Valencia in Spain. Both teams will start testing on Wednesday.

The Scuderia Ferrari will be testing at their own Fiorano circuit in Italy.