Wurz Pleased with First Taste of New McLaren

Austrian Alexander Wurz was pleased with his first taste of the new McLaren Formula One car after completing its first run at the Paul Ricard circuit this morning.

"Of course I am very excited to be driving the MP4-18 for the first time. Everything feels great," the test driver said after one installation lap at the Le Castellet circuit in southern France.

"We've had no real problem but of course we have to take it slow as always when you do the first shakedown which is what this is, not a test. Therefore 'so far, so good.'"

Technical director Adrian Newey said in a team statement before the session that the new Mercedes-powered car had "probably more research put into it than any other car I have worked on."

Wurz is due to continue testing in the afternoon and for the rest of the week, while regular race drivers David Coulthard and Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen continue to develop the old MP4-17D car.

McLaren have ruled out using the new car for next week's Monaco Grand Prix, which Coulthard won last year, and are also unlikely to take it to Canada for the following race.

Team boss Ron Dennis said at the weekend that the initial testing of the new car would be unrelated to performance with engineers running systems checks.

"We are not expecting and do not intend to go to (Le Castellet) and set any quick times," he said.