The BMW WilliamsF1 Team completed a three day test session at Silverstone, WilliamsF1's home circuit, today. Ralf Schumacher made a welcome return to the cockpit following his twelve week absence recovering from injuries sustained in the US Grand Prix.

Proving he hasn't lost any of his fighting spirit, the German set the quickest time of the session on his first day back behind the wheel. Ralf was joined by the team's regular test driver, Marc Gené, for the duration of the test.

Over the three days, the pair completed 323 laps of the Northamptonshire circuit, a total of 1,660 kilometres, collating valuable data in preparation for next weekend's inaugural Chinese Grand Prix.

Ralf Schumacher:
I'm very happy with the progress we made over the past three days. The only hindrance was losing some time yesterday due to a small technical problem, but the team quickly remedied it. I must say the car is much better now than when I last drove it, it is much easier to drive, especially with regards to downforce. I'm now really looking forward to the next three races and giving the team my very best.

Tim Newton (Test Team Manager, WilliamsF1):
We haven't made as much progress as we'd liked to have done this week due to various technical problems that compromised our running time. However, it's preferable to experience the problems in testing and remedy them before the parts go to the race track, which is what we've done.

Ralf spent his first test following his accident and subsequent recuperation period acclimatizing himself with the numerous developments we've made to the car since he last drove it. We completed a lot of set-up work with him and Ralf gave us plenty of interesting feedback. As usual, we carried out extensive tyre testing with Michelin in preparation for the last three races of the season.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
From BMW's point of view, we had a very productive test, especially regards to the starting procedure and traction control. It was good to have Ralf back in the car and over the three days we adapted some settings on the start strategy and traction control system to suit his driving style. As well as this work, we ran various tests on the engine which gave us useful information for the on-going development in Munich.

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team's next test will take place in Jerez, in southern Spain, between 28th and 30th September. Marc Gené and will be present to undertake testing duties.