First day at Le Castellet for McLaren

Team McLaren Mercedes returned to the test track following a two week gap as a result of the European and Spanish Grands Prix. Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya were in attendance at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track at the start of a four day test for the team, which will see a number of components tested to be brought online at the upcoming races.

Work for the week will include a focus on the cooling and bodywork package for the Monaco Grand Prix, Mercedes-Benz V8 engine work, aerodynamic testing for Canada and Michelin tyre selection for Monaco and Montreal.

Weather at the track, which was in the 2D SC configuration today at 3.593km in length, was warm and sunny all day. Team McLaren Mercedes covered over 615kms in total during the session, which was attended by 12 cars in total.

Kimi covered 68 laps in his MP4-21, equating to 245km of the French track. His fastest time of 1m05.996 put the Finn in fifth place on the timesheets. Kimi spent a couple of hours in the garage mid way through the day, as he and the team were evaluating suspension options.

Juan Pablo completed 370km over the course of 103 laps, as he put in the sixth quickest time of the day, with a 1m06.177.

Team McLaren Mercedes will continue testing tomorrow with Kimi and Juan Pablo. The team's test drivers, Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett will take over driving duties for Thursday and Friday.