Sainz: A very good day for the team

His day got better from there as the McLaren MCL34 showed handy pace to end the day second fastest behind pacesetter Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari.

Sainz went on to rack up impressive mileage with good reliability, ending the day only four tenths down on the top time, and almost 2.5 seconds up on the similarly powered Renault team.

Clearly satisfied with his first day in the cockpit, Sainz told reporters afterwards, “A very good day for the team, 120 laps on the first day was exactly what we wanted – they were on the run plan and we managed to complete them."

"After such a long winter it’s time to thank the mechanics and everyone back in the factory for the design process, the car build-up they’ve done, the very hard work to get the car ready - already for the presentation a week ago - and running it today without any issues."

"There were small issues here and there, but nothing that stopped us from running. It was just a very slight cable that was not so connected, so nothing reliability-wise, nothing to worry about, just a car build-up issue."

“So something to be very proud of as a team. We’ve come a long way since last year – where we were here last year compared to where we are now in terms of lap count and reliability, so definitely a step forward in that direction.”

"I think there is a lot to improve on the car still. Today we managed to learn a lot of things, we managed to see the underlying balance issues with the car, what we need to improve, “ he said.

“Now we have the directions. Once we have identified the balance issues and where we want to go, we will start working,” added the Spaniard who will sit out day two as teammate and rookie Lando Norris gets familiar with what appears to be a handy piece of kit, offering a glimmer of hope for long-suffering McLaren fans.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/02/18/barcelona-day-1-solid-performance-by-vettel-and-ferrari/