Aston Martin Red Bull Racing F1 Barcelona test 1, day 3 21.02.2020: BARCELONA TEST 1 – DAY 3 Driver: Max Verstappen / Alex Albon Car: RB16 Laps: Max 86, Alex 83 Best time: Max 1:17.636, Alex 1:18.154 Circuit length: 4.655km The final day of Formula One’s first

BARCELONA TEST 1 – DAY 3


Driver: Max Verstappen / Alex Albon
Car: RB16                                           
Laps: Max 86, Alex 83
Best time: Max 1:17.636, Alex 1:18.154
Circuit length: 4.655km
 


The final day of Formula One’s first pre-season test of 2020 saw both Max and Alex in action at the Circuit de Catalunya, with Max running in the morning session and Alex taking over in the afternoon. With the focus still on long runs, the pair were able to post another impressive total of 169 laps to take the RB16’s overall count to 471 for Test 1.
 


After climbing out of the RB16 at the end of the morning session, Max said: “We got another good amount of laps today and for this first week of testing that’s really important as we try to understand the new car. We’re not chasing lap time; it’s not about that. It’s about scanning and testing everything on the car, making sure everything works well and that it’s reliable. It’s been really positive and the car has felt good all week. We still have a lot of things to learn on the car and that will continue next week, but at the end of this first test I’m happy and can’t complain.”
 


With several red flags in the afternoon interrupting running, Alex’s stint in the car was slightly fragmented but the Thai driver was still pleased with how his first outings in the RB16 unfolded.
 


“This week we were focused more on reliability and systems checks than anything else and everything went very smoothly,” he said. “The car feels good and each time we went out it felt better and better. It’s all about gaining experience of the car, learning what we can do with it and getting ready for Melbourne. The main areas we needed to work on have definitely improved. I think we’re looking strong and compared to last year we’ve made a good step forward. I think we’ve hit the ground running and we have a very good baseline now for next week.”
 



Head of Race Engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin, added: “It’s been a very successful test for the whole Team and in my opinion one of the most satisfying first weeks of pre-season testing we’ve had in some time. We had no issues, and the car ran very smoothly throughout. We did have a small issue on the car in the morning but it was an easy fix and Max was able to complete a full race simulation.



We were on course for the same with Alex in the afternoon, but unfortunately there were a few red flags so we didn’t quite get everything done. Despite those delays he was still able to get through more than 80 laps so we’re very happy. We’re in good shape and we’ve now got a very good platform heading into the second week where we’ll hopefully add some more performance.”




- Red Bull also photos