McNish makes on-track debut for Renault.

Renault F1 test driver Allan McNish made an unexpected early debut with the team today [Wednesday] at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, after regular driver, Jarno Trulli was forced to miss the day's running as he was feeling unwell.

McNish, joined team-mate Fernando Alonso on track and together they completed 58 laps, both well off the pace, setting times in the 1m 20s, while the quickest laps of the day were in the 1m 15s.

Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director of Renault F1, explained: "An unpredictable day of testing for the team. While Fernando continued to do suspension evaluation in the R202-02, which he started in Jerez last week, Jarno was not able to test at all due to not feeling well.

"Luckily, our new test driver Allan McNish was at hand and so he took over Jarno's seat, for the day. It was his first drive with the Renault F1 Team and it was a good opportunity to shakedown the car so early and start getting to know the team."

Tomorrow [Thursday] Alonso will switch to the hybrid car and hopefully Trulli will continue with tyre evaluation in the R202.