“So I didn’t really run much today. But yeah, it was expected, this kind of thing. We are finding everything now to not hopefully find it in the next test, or even in the first race of the year.
“But yeah, overall, I would say when we were running [it was] positive. Good to have a feel with the new car, the new regulations, power unit and everything.
“So hopefully on the next day I’m driving, I can get a few more laps on board…
“I think there was a lot of learnings from the laps I completed, to understand a little bit the power unit and the car, and give feedback to the team where we need to improve.
“Because there is a lot of things we have to do better, we are a new team as well building for the first time our own power unit. So there is a lot of places we need to do a step, here and there.
“But I am very excited for that. It’s been incredible being part of this new journey for me, and regarding the stoppage on track today, as I said, it was a precaution thing as well. And we decided to not run until we fully understand [the problem].”
As previously mentioned, the teams who opted against running today (i.e McLaren, Ferrari) are not necessarily at a disadvantage.
Audi, for example, only managed 27 laps on their first day. This means that any further complications would severely limit how much data they collect in Barcelona.
For the next four days, it will be imperative that teams achieve maximise every second they are on track. If not, there is a risk of leaving the Catalunya circuit with more questions than answers.
Drivers like Bortoleto are also keeping their fingers crossed they can get some substantive mileage on the board. These 2026 cars are vastly different to their predecessors, which makes pre-season testing a huge learning process for drivers as well as engineers.
Main photo: Steven Tee/LAT Images (Red Bull Content Pool)
