01/06/2005
NEWS STORY
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The first day of testing at Silverstone fell victim to the typical British weather.
Although conditions were OK in the morning, there was little running in the afternoon as heavy rain and high winds lashed the Northamptonshire track.
Having been warned of the possibility of rain, Renault opted not to run today, and will keep the 'saved' day for later in the season. Meanwhile, Toyota and BAR ran cars at Monza, as planned.
McLaren topped the timesheets with Pedro de la Rosa edging out teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. The Spaniard was the busiest driver today, completing 63 laps as the Woking team focused on Michelin tyre development work for the forthcoming Canadian and British Grands Prix.
In the morning Juan Pablo was concentrated on suspension and set-up work, whilst Pedro worked on Michelin tyre development for the British Grand Prix. Both drivers however were forced to end the programme mid-afternoon due to the heavy rain.
WilliamsF1 had Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg on duty, the young test driver going off shortly after the afternoon session got underway.
"It stayed mostly dry this morning so we managed to make a start on some tyre work," said test team manager, Tim Newton. "We also did several different systems checks and some start development.
"However, the typical Silverstone weather this afternoon prevented us from carrying out any really constructive work so we're looking forward to a better day tomorrow."
Christian Klien (Red Bull), Luca Badoer (Ferrari) and Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan) were also on duty, but for the most part little can be drawn from today's times since so little happened, especially in the afternoon.
That said, we cannot help but feel that some of the teams missed out on vital data this afternoon, as there is no guarantee that all the races will be dry this year.
American sensation Scott speed was present, but completed just one lap in the Red Bull, in atrocious conditions, before the Austrian team opted to call him back in and end its session early.