Eight teams were in action, back at the Catalunya circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona and in the Scuderia Toro Rosso camp, we continue our programme of alternating drivers over the course of the four days, with Carlos Sainz driving today and Saturday and Max Verstappen at the wheel on Friday and Sunday.
Phil Charles (Chief Race Engineer): “As planned, we had various updates, as part of a new package, to try for the first time and so the bulk of the day was given over to aero and other measurements. It all went well, although we did lose some time in the middle of the day. Generally, the new parts produced encouraging results. In the afternoon, apart from a couple of aero tests, we also did some mechanical work. Carlos did a good job, running Hard and Medium Pirellis throughout the day.”
Carlos Sainz (Car 55): “It was very nice to drive the car fitted with the update package. That meant much of my time was spent collecting valuable aero data for the engineers to study. Then towards the end of the morning, I managed to do a real run. I could immediately feel an improvement in the car, in terms of its overall grip and balance. That was a very positive and motivating feeling for the rest of the day. We did have an issue that cost us some track time in the afternoon, but the guys did a great job to fix it and get me out on track again, with enough time to do two more useful runs before the chequered flag.”