May 14 (GMM) F1's ten teams kicked off a three day group test at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet, located near Marseille in France, on Wednesday.



In sunny weather, the teams began running on the short '2D-SC' configuration of the so-called High Tech Test Track to simulate the tight curves of the forthcoming Monaco grand prix.



On Friday, the circuit will switch to a lower downforce layout for Montreal preparations.



On day one, most teams are trialling visibly new bodywork pieces, most notably the Williams and Honda teams.



Williams' FW30 features a variety of the Red Bull and Renault-style engine cover fin, while Honda is experimenting with a couple of new versions of its novel nose horn winglets.



Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, is at the wheel of Toro Rosso's new STR3 chassis, which will make its race debut at Monaco next week.



Also of note, test drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Lucas di Grassi are in action for Force India and Renault respectively, while Alex Wurz returned to work for Honda following his race outing with Peugeot's Le Mans effort at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.