Red Bull, who unveiled their new car on Sunday – the RB13 – hit trouble on the opening morning of the first Formula 1 pre-season test of the 2017 season in Barcelona.
Daniel Ricciardo completedu only a handful of laps before his car stopped on the Circuit de Catalunya at turn four.
The Australian hitched a lift to the pit lane while his Red Bull was towed to the garage on the back of a pick-up truck.
The problem comes in the wake of Toro Rosso also encountering issues with their Renault power unit, which also powers Red Bull albeit a TAG Heuer badged version of the engine, during their filming day at Misano last week.
The team attributed the problem to a sensor issue, which the team appeared to resolve in time for the afternoon session.
A sensor issue causes @danielricciardo to stop on track… Meanwhile back at the Factory! 😳 Linked?! #BreakSuperstition pic.twitter.com/MSwk3xnLsQ
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 27, 2017
Barcelona Test Day 1, Morning – Best Lap Times
| DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.791ss | 1m22.791s | 62 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:23.169ss | 0.378s | 79 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1:23.709ss | 0.918s | 39 |
| 4 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:25.552ss | 2.761s | 39 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:25.632ss | 2.841s | 18 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:26.319ss | 3.528s | 22 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1:26.404ss | 3.613s | 15 |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:26.865ss | 4.074s | 32 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1:28.712ss | 5.921s | 4 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | – | – | 1 |