McLaren PREPARES FOR BARCELONA TEST
TEAM PREPARES FOR BARCELONA TEST Team McLaren Mercedes begins a three day -*test*-('") at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona tomorrow. Present at day one will be Pedro, fresh from finishing fifth at last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. Alex, who drove the MP4-20 for the first time during the Friday practice sessions in Bahrain will join him. Kimi will then join Alex for the final two days of the -*test*-('"). The team will have an MP4-19B and an MP4-20 present at the circuit.

Barcelona Day 2: Hot de la Rosa still flying Pedro de la Rosa continued where he left off in Bahrain by setting the fas-*test*-('") lap during -*test*-('")ing at the Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday. The Spanish driver clocked a best lap of 1m14.391s to finish 0.15s clear of the leading Toyota of Ricardo Zonta. De la Rosa's lap was 0.7s faster than last year's pole position time and only 0.6s slower than the fas-*test*-('") ever F1 car lap around the track. De la Rosa was joined by fellow -*test*-('")er Alex Wurz and the pair racked up 700km between them - more than two race distances. Ricardo Zonta was second fas-*test*-('") for Toyota who fielded former race driver Olivier Panis, though the Frenchman's car ground to a halt after 43 laps. Bahrain winner Fernando Alonso was third fas-*test*-('") ahead of Wurz while the second Renault of Fisichella was seventh fas-*test*-('"). Between them the two Renaults racked up 900km. Fifth and sixth belonged to the BMW WilliamsF1 duo of Nick Heidfeld and Antonio Pizzonia who managed almost 820km of running today in the improving FW26. Anthony Davidson was the fas-*test*-('") BAR Honda driver today in eighth. The Honda powered team completed the grea-*test*-('") distance of all today, Davidson and Button (10th) covering almost 1200km. Ferrari's Marc Gené was the only Bridgestone runner in action today managing 555km - a stark contrast between the total mileage racked up for Michelin by the sum of its teams. Michelin tyres in fact covered almost 5,000km today, nearly ten times that of Bridgestone. Sauber Petronas was the only other team in action today with Villeneuve finishing bottom of the timing sheets as he tries to get more used to the car. It was a dry and sunny day with air temperature reaching 22 degrees Centigrade. Testing continues tomorrow.

Day:-2 1 P. de la Rosa McLaren Michelin 01:14.391 88 2 R. Zonta Toyota Michelin 01:14.516 65 3 F. Alonso Renault Michelin 01:14.946 118 4 A. Wurz McLaren Michelin 01:15.178 65 5 N. Heidfeld Williams Michelin 01:15.337 123 6 A. Pizzonia Williams Michelin 01:15.442 54 7 G. Fisichella Renault Michelin 01:15.462 78 8 A. Davidson BAR Michelin 01:15.500 143 9 M. Gené Ferrari Bridgestone 01:15.737 120 10 J. Button BAR Michelin 01:16.137 109 11 D. Coulthard Red Bull Michelin 01:16.385 111 12 O. Panis Toyota Michelin 01:17.153 47 13 J. Villeneuve Sauber Michelin 01:18.096 74

McLaren focus on performance runs in Spain The primary objective of McLaren Mercedes' three day -*test*-('") at the Circuit de Catalunya this week is focusing on performance runs, with both drivers completing short runs and simulated race distances during the planned programme. The team will also be -*test*-('")ing a number of new aerodynamic components over the three days, plus running new brake discs and carrying out damper work. The team has one MP4-19B at the week's -*test*-('") and a new MP4-20 chassis. Alex was behind the wheel of the MP4-20 today, his second time in the 2005 race car. He completed 65 laps with a fas-*test*-('") time of 1m15.180s and this afternoon completed a series of short runs concentrating on Michelin tyre development. Pedro completed 88 laps in the MP4-19B and set the fas-*test*-('") time of the day with a time of 1m14.393s. Pedro's programme was concentrating on simulations of the first qualifying session of a grand prix weekend. His programme incorporated several changes to the car set-up and this afternoon the programme concentrated on tyre work, focusing on short runs. "Today was only my second run in the MP4-20 so it took time to acclimatise," said Wurz. "While I feel there are a few modifications which need to be made to the car, it was a positive -*test*-('") today." Pedro de la Rosa added, "This morning we were running low fuel to simulate the first qualifying session over the race weekend. Today we all worked on different set-ups and a tyre programme, it was a good day." Alex Wurz will be joined at the circuit tomorrow by Kimi Raikkonen.

7/04/2005 New record by Button: 1 . J. Button - BAR Honda 007 - 1:13.552 (+ 0.000 ) - 139 laps 2 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF105 - 1:14.231 (+ 0.679 ) - 111 laps 3 . T. Sato - BAR Honda 007 - 1:14.247 (+ 0.695 ) - 122 laps 4 . A. Wurz - McLaren Mercedes MP4-20 - 1:14.391 (+ 0.839 ) - 102 laps 5 . R. Barrichello - Ferrari F2005 - 1:14.645 (+ 1.093 ) - 116 laps 6 . F. Alonso - Renault R25 - 1:14.670 (+ 1.118 ) - 129 laps 7 . L. Badoer - Ferrari F2004M - 1:14.761 (+ 1.209 ) - 127 laps 8 . R. Zonta - Toyota TF105 - 1:14.826 (+ 1.274 ) - 144 laps 9 . K. Raikkonen - McLaren Mercedes MP4- 20 - 1:14.929 (+ 1.377 ) - 76 laps 10 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Williams FW27 - 1:14.932 (+ 1.380 ) - 95 laps 11 . D. Coulthard - Red Bull Racing RB1 - 1:14.957 (+ 1.405 ) - 87 laps 12 . G. Fisichella - Renault R25 - 1:15.018 (+ 1.466 ) - 67 laps 13 . A. Pizzonia - BMW Williams FW27 - 1:15.141 (+ 1.589 ) - 56 laps 14 . M. Webber - BMW Williams FW27 - 1:16.050 (+ 2.498 ) - 51 laps 15 . F. Massa - Sauber Petronas C24 - 1:16.942 (+ 3.390 ) - 83 laps 16 . E. Bernoldi - BAR Honda 007 - 1:17.243 (+ 3.691 ) - 18 laps

McLaren Barcelona -*test*-('") notes 2005-04-07 The Team McLaren Mercedes team completed day two of its three day programme at the Circuit de Catalunya today, with Kimi Raikkonen joining Alex Wurz on track. Kimi was behind the wheel of the MP4-20, -*test*-('")ing the option tyre for the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix. Kimi's programme ended at approx. 16:30 with a slipping clutch. The -*test*-('") team will fix the car overnight so that Kimi is able to complete his -*test*-('")ing programme tomorrow. Kimi completed 76 laps of the Spanish circuit with a fas-*test*-('") time of 1m14.928s. Alex was also undertaking tyre -*test*-('")ing for the Spanish Grand Prix today in the MP4-19B. This morning he completed a series of short runs, but lost an hour this afternoon after the car developed a hydraulic leak. Alex completed a total of 102 laps and was the fourth fas-*test*-('") man on the track today with a 1m14.390s lap. Kimi Raikkonen: "This morning I completed my planned programme, and as well as -*test*-('")ing the option Michelin tyre for Spain continued the set up development work which Pedro started yesterday." Alex Wurz: "Today I was -*test*-('")ing in the MP4-19B concentrating on Michelin tyre -*test*-('")ing for the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix. I am looking forward to the final day of -*test*-('")ing tomorrow." -mclaren-

8th April 1 K. Räikkönen McLaren Michelin 01:15.389 65 2 A. Wurz McLaren Michelin 01:15.536 65 3 F. Massa Sauber Michelin 01:16.565 92 4 N. Heidfeld Williams Michelin 01:16.600 99 5 A. Pizzonia Williams Michelin 01:16.615 59 6 M. Schumacher Ferrari Bridgestone 01:16.870 28 7 E. Bernoldi BAR Michelin 01:17.459 63 8 T. Sato BAR Michelin 01:17.824 115 9 L. Badoer Ferrari Bridgestone 01:18.041 24 10 V. Liuzzi Red Bull Michelin 01:18.151 61 ================================================ Barcelona Day 4: Raikkonen fas-*test*-('") as rain hits -*test*-('") Kimi Raikkonen and Alex Wurz set a dominant pace on the final day of -*test*-('")ing this week at the Circuit dfe Catalunya near Barcelona. Raikkonen ended on top with a best lap of 1m15.389s on a day that started out warm but cooled off as heavy cloud gathered overhead and rain hit the afternoon session. It was a relatively uneventful day at the track. While the McLarens were out front Felipe Massa finished third fas-*test*-('") in the Sauber after controversially taking over from Jacques Villeneuve a day earlier than scheduled. Testing aerodynamics Massa finished ahead of the WilliamsF1 duo of Nick Heidfeld and Antonio Pizzonia. Driving the 2005 Ferrari Michael Schumacher had to make do with the sixth fas-*test*-('") time of the day. Schumacher managed just 28 laps today before rain fell and the team decided to call it a day. Ferrari also fielded Luca Badoer who also had a slow day managing just twenty-four laps before rain fell. Also in action today were BAR Honda with Bernoldi and Sato and Red Bull fielded Liuzzi who will make his F1 debut at Imola. A one-minute silence was observed at the circuit at 10am in a mark of respect to the Pope. Formula One will not be in action at Barcelona now until the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

TEST REPORT BARCELONA, DAY 3 Date: Friday, April 8th, 2005 Location: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain Drivers: Kimi Raikkonen and Alex Wurz Weather: Drizzle turning wet in the afternoon Air temperature 15 degrees Celsius, Track temperature approx. 17 degrees Celsius Laps run: 134 Best lap time of the day: Kimi Raikkonen, 1m15.388s Best lap time of the week: Jenson Button, BAR Honda, 1m13,553s (Thursday) Best lap time of the week from a Team McLaren Mercedes driver: Pedro de la Rosa, 1m14.393s (Wednesday) Total number of laps driven during the -*test*-('"): 465 Total number of km driven during the -*test*-('"): 2152 km Team McLaren Mercedes completed its three day -*test*-('")ing programme at the Circuit de Catalunya today. The wet weather conditions meant a change to the team’s planned schedule with both Alex and Kimi focusing on running an intermediate and wet weather Michelin tyre programme for the forthcoming San Marino Grand Prix. Alex was behind the wheel of an MP4-19B, completing a total of 66 laps with a fas-*test*-('") time of 1m15.535s. Kimi was behind the wheel of MP4-20 and was the fas-*test*-('") man on the circuit today. He completed 68 laps with a fas-*test*-('") time of 1m15.388s. Kimi’s programme ended at approx. 16:30 after the car experienced a transmission problem. Alex Wurz "Today we had to change our planned programme due to the wet weather, however it was a productive day and we completed a significant number of laps. I am now looking ahead to next week's -*test*-('") and putting in significant mileage on MP4-20." Kimi Raikkonen “The changeable weather conditions today meant that we could focus on both wet weather and intermediate tyre -*test*-('")ing for Michelin, and the team worked well to change our programme from that which we had originally planned.”

Transmission problem for Kimi :( West McLaren Mercedes completed its three day -*test*-('")ing program at the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday with both drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Alex Wurz at the top of the timesheets. The wet weather conditions meant a change to the team's planned schedule with both Alex and Kimi focusing on running an intermediate and wet weather Michelin tyre program for the forthcoming San Marino Grand Prix. Alex was behind the wheel of an MP4-19B, completing a total of 66 laps with a fas-*test*-('") time of 1m15.535, second quickest overall. "Today we had to change our planned program due to the wet weather, however it was a productive day and we completed a significant number of laps,” Alex said. “I am now looking ahead to next week's -*test*-('") and putting in significant mileage on MP4-20." Meanwhile, Kimi was behind the wheel of MP4-20 and was the fas-*test*-('") man on the circuit. He completed 68 laps with a fas-*test*-('") time of 1m15.388, however his program ended at approx.16:30 after the car experienced a transmission problem. "The changeable weather conditions today meant that we could focus on both wet weather and intermediate tyre -*test*-('")ing for Michelin, and the team worked well to change our program from that which we had originally planned," the Finn said. Next week West McLaren Mercedes will -*test*-('") at Paul Ricard from 13th-15th April where Alex Wurz and Pedro will be present over all three days, piloting two MP4-20s. Source: McLaren