McLaren's first day at Paul Ricard

The Team McLaren Mercedes test team returned to track duties today at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track in the south of France, following a three week break due to the Bahrain and Malaysian Grands Prix. However the session was affected by wet weather conditions, with heavy rain overnight and drizzle during the day, making track conditions difficult.

Pedro de la Rosa was at the wheel of chassis four of MP4-21, with the planned programme for the week to shakedown the new car. The Spaniard ventured out of the garage on a couple of occasions during the morning, which allowed the test team to complete some initial systems checks. The afternoon saw Pedro, who was running on intermediate Michelins, complete more significant running on track, which was in the 2E-SC configuration at 4.11km in length, taking his total for the day to 637km over 155 laps.

Gary Paffett was scheduled to drive an interim MP4-20 today, with his focus on Michelin tyre selection for Australia and San Marino. However with the wet track conditions, the team would not have obtained any useful data from tyre testing so Gary did not complete any running.

Testing is due to continue for the team at Paul Ricard until Friday, with Pedro and Gary present for the week. Team McLaren Mercedes will be joined on track by Renault, Toyota and BMW-Sauber from tomorrow.