Having been accused of 'easing off' in the latter stages of the championship, and 'settling' for podium positions, Fernando Alonso and Renault will be delighted to have set the pace on the opening day of testing at Silverstone.

In its efforts to fend off McLaren in the race for the Constructors' Championship, and with the drivers' title tantalisingly within Alonso's grasp, the French team is introducing a new aerodynamic package for the Brazilian Grand Prix, and will therefore take great comfort from today's times.

Heikki Kovalainen joined Fernando for the first day of testing, the Finn, who suffered an engine failure, widely tipped to be promoted to the role of test and reserve driver in 2006.

Hot on the heels (0.005s) of the Renault however was Alex Wurz in the McLaren. In the morning the Austrian worked on suspension development and set-up work, and in the afternoon focused his programme on testing the prime and option Michelin tyres for the forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix.

Pedro de la Rosa was also behind the wheel of an MP4-20 which was running for the first time with a Mercedes-Benz V8 engine. Pedro and the test team made steady progress throughout the day, with long breaks in between running as the engineers analysed the data and made software changes. The Spaniard will continue the programme tomorrow.

Third quickest, albeit over a second off the pace, was Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota. The Brazilian lost track time in the afternoon when his car suffered a technical failure on track, causing the red flags to come out. Zonta was joined by Olivier Panis, who is focussing on the TF105B (V8) programme.

Red Bull had Tonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien on duty, the Austrian having been confirmed as David Coulthard's teammate for the rest of the season.

The main focus of attention however was Anthony Davidson in the Jordan. Sadly, the Englishman spent the morning kicking his heels in the Jordan garage following an engine failure.

Despite being too small for the car, resulting in the mechanics having to modify the cockpit in order to bring the pedals within reach, the youngster was able to complete 58 laps in the afternoon, posting a best time just 1s off Klien's pace.

Davidson, whose test contract with BAR runs out at the end of the season, is unsure when he will test with Jordan again, though he tests for the Brackley team at the end of this month.

Today's Times

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