Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Barcelona test 2 day 1 with both drivers on the track 26.02.2020: BARCELONA TEST 2 – DAY 1 Driver: Alex Albon and Max Verstappen Car: RB16 Laps: Alex 29, Max 84 Best time: Alex 1:17.550, Max 1:17.347 Circuit length: 4.655km The first day of Formula On

 
BARCELONA TEST 2 – DAY 1
Driver:               Alex Albon and Max Verstappen
Car:                   RB16
Laps:                 Alex 29, Max 84
Best time:         Alex 1:17.550, Max 1:17.347
Circuit length:  4.655km
 


The first day of Formula One’s second 2020 pre-season test saw both Alex and Max in action at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Alex kicked-off the first day of running in the morning, with Max taking over in the afternoon. Continuing the pattern from the first test, the Team focused on testing the RB16 under a variety of set-up conditions. Today featured the debut of Pirelli’s experimental tyre, which may be put into use at the Dutch Grand Prix to cope with the high-speed banking of Zandvoort’s final corner.
 


Summarising his morning, Alex said: “We had a small issue with the suspension and lost a bit of time so this morning was a little frustrating – but we did so many laps last week we’re still on a good footing and haven’t really fallen behind our plan. Even though we didn’t get as many laps as expected, the car was feeling pretty good and already an improvement on how it was last week.



Obviously, this week there will be more of a focus on performance, and we’ve taken some steps in the right direction. We’re trying to get the car into the best window. It’s already in a good place but there are little pieces of the puzzle we’re trying to fit together throughout the test, getting us ready for Melbourne.”
 


After the break, Max took over and put in a full afternoon to ensure the car passed the 100-lap mark with ease. “Today I tried the new Pirelli tyre compound, but overall we were trying lots of things, learning how the car reacts under various circumstances, so when we reach Australia, we’ll know what to expect.



We won’t know how good we are until we get to Melbourne because testing isn’t about setting lap times but trying new and different things. I stopped on track just before the end of the session but we’re not concerned and overall it was a positive day. We have a lot of grip but so do the other cars so let’s see what happens when we go racing.”
 



Head of Race Engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin, added: “This morning we had an issue with the suspension, which cost us some time. That’s a bit of a shame but things like this are the reason why we have testing. Once that was addressed, we ran without any problems and completed a good number of laps.



 Max’s stop at the very end of the day is also something we understand and is not a concern.  We were running a similar format to last week, trying out lots of set-up and suspension changes. Max also tested the new tyre that will potentially be used at Zandvoort and we have another set available that Alex will probably use tomorrow. Overall, we had a very good day, completed a good number of laps and learned some lessons.”
 
 



- red Bull also photos