McLaren and Red Bull Revise Cars at Barcelona

For the first time this off-season, all 10 teams have tested their 2009 challengers in the same day and on the same circuit, at Barcelona, this week. Apart from seeing Ross Brawn's new car at work – and also the official debut of Toro Rosso's STR4 – the Circuit de Catalunya testing session on Monday also revealed some aerodynamic revisions introduced by Red Bull Racing and McLaren Mercedes.

As far as the Red Bull RB5 is concerned, the car driven by Mark Webber featured a modified shark fin as compared to the base model launched in early February. The aforementioned element stretches from the top of the roll-hoop air intake all the way to the rear wing, providing improved airflow through the rear of the car.

Another innovation, this time unveiled by the McLaren Mercedes in an attempt to boost their performances in testing, was the new design of McLaren MP4-24's rear floor, featuring a triangular cut just ahead of the rear wing. Accompanying this change is also the new design of the rear wing, featuring revised endplates.

However, none of the two elements presented above helped the two teams get on top of the timing sheets yesterday, as Webber and Heikki Kovalainen ended the day on some disappointing 7th and 10th place respectively.

Brawn GP's new BGP 001 showed consistent pace during its first outing on the Barcelona track, with Jenson Button topping the morning session and scoring the 4th best time of the day overall. His mileage on Monday consisted of 82 laps (the fewest from all teams yesterday). The other car debuting in testing on Monday, Sebastien Bourdais-driven STR4, recorded the 6th best time of the day.