Testing continued at Valencia on Thursday for the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team, with Fernando Alonso joining Franck Montagny for the Spaniard's first test of 2005. Overall, the team had a successful day, although Alonso's running was limited by technical difficulties.

Fernando's programme focused on allowing him to acclimatise to the 2005 tyres and downforce levels following his winter break. In spite of several stoppages, he was able to begin learning about the changes and will complete a more substantial programme tomorrow to continue this work.

Franck continued tyre testing from yesterday, running a number of sets of tyres to mileage on endurance runs of approximately thirty laps.

Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk: "We had another very solid day of testing, in spite of the problems Fernando encountered. He was excited to be back in an F1 car, and has begun adapting to the revised characteristics of the car. As for Franck, he completed a marathon day on our tyre testing programme, and has once again found some very promising results to carry forward to our next test."

Times