Barcelona Test #2 – Day One

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: The Team has spent the last few days going over the data that we collected last week, and this has allowed us to begin finalising parts of the aero specification of the car. Today we collected more rake data early in the day, which enabled us to complete that basic aero definition of the car. With the track still in good condition, Nicholas was able to begin the performance tuning runs shortly before 10:30am as the race engineers began to explore the newly defined aero package. Unfortunately, the morning was cut short by a PU oil system issue, requiring us to fit another new PU ready for George’s running in the afternoon.

Once George began his running the conditions were not as favourable as in the morning, and so we were able to spend some time understanding the behaviour of the car in the sort of conditions that we will face throughout the season. By the end of the afternoon we had made good progress and were able to spend the final 15 minutes completing pit stop practice.

Although parts of the day were frustrating, we nonetheless completed some very useful work, which sets us up nicely for the final two days of winter testing. The fact that we managed over 100 laps, despite changing drivers and the PU, is testament to both the dedication and work ethic of our mechanics, but also the current nature of Formula One generally.

Nicholas Latifi: Definitely this year is a big step forward in terms of the feeling of the car on the track and in that way, we are going in the right direction. As for the overall feeling in terms of the on-track driving, I would say this morning was another good step forward. For sure I would have liked to have a bit more track time and laps banked heading into the first race, as our running was curtailed by an oil systems issue. Tomorrow I definitely want to maximise the track time as it is the final time I will get to drive the car before Melbourne.

George Russell: We tested a number of aero items today to get a greater idea of the spectrum of our car from top to bottom. Some of the changes we made were not as positive as others but definitely for our understanding overall, it was constructive. Come the end of the day, the car was more consistent and nicer to drive so we now need to look into the data to understand why that was the case. Ultimately, that is what testing is all about.