Toro Rosso BARCELONA TEST 01 – DAY 3

Today was a proper winter Testing session as the track was covered in snow most of the day. Not much running for Brendon, but we can end the third day of T01 with some positives anyway.

Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya
Driver: Brendon Hartley – Car: STR13-02
Best time: no time – Laps: 2

“With the new surface and such cold conditions we could barely get the tyres to temperature today. We did get to test a couple of items on the car in preparation for Melbourne, so it’s good to be able to sign off a few parts. There were other things we could go through – we simulated a race start, checked some procedures, practiced changes on the steering wheel and went through some useful data. It was a bit annoying for me to not get any dry running, but I’m sure in the next test we’ll make up for that. So far, the driveability of the car has been great and the reliability has been faultless, so it’s been a positive start to the campaign.”

James Key (Technical Director):
“Driving snow and Sub-zero temperatures this morning, heavy rain and standing water this afternoon… We got a couple of laps in for a little bit of exploratory work, but obviously the conditions were not at all practical for any form of proper running. We were able to use the time to do some static tests in the garage which we planned anyway so we still made use of the day where we could – it’s a pity for Brendon and the team to miss a lot of mileage today but it’s the same for everyone and no one can control the weather conditions. So, with a tricky day today and the lost running time with conditions in the afternoon on days 1 and 2 there’s obviously a lot to catch up on in the remaining days of testing. We will get our priorities straight and try to make up for the lost ground as best we can.”

Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director):
“Snow is not what you expect in Barcelona! It is unfortunate that we lost valuable track time today, but the situation is the same for all teams. However, we still made good use of our time, analysing data and going through race grid procedure in conjunction with the Toro Rosso engineers. While the forecast for tomorrow is for more rain, it is expected to be warmer, so we hope to get in some more laps as the first test of the year comes to an end.”