Renault starts testing in France

The test team were back in action today at Paul Ricard, their first test since the start of the 2006 season. The euphoria of the opening races of the season has passed, and the test team is back at work.

This week sees the Renault F1 Team in action at Paul Ricard, continuing the development of the R26 with Heikki Kovalainen and a single car, chassis R26-04. His task will be to prepare for the opening races of the European season, and to test some new developments.

The first day of the programme was a busy one for the Finn, and he concentrated primarily on tyre testing with Michelin. This also brought with it, the normal focus on car set-up to optimize the R26 around the new tyres.

As always, the test team looked to optimise every kilometre of its work, and Heikki completed some 160 laps today. “We began our programme with some basic checks because this was the first run for a new chassis,“ explained Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk. “Once the track conditions had improved, we concentrated on tyre testing and set-up work. I think we found some good directions, which we will check tomorrow before recommending them to the race team. It was a very positive day for us.”