The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 made a marathon start to the first Formula 1 test of 2019 today, with Max Verstappen posting a total of 128 laps of Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the Team’s Honda-powered era got off to a positive start. As well as recording the second highest lap count of day one in Barcelona, Max logged the day’s fourth fastest time, thanks to a late-afternoon lap of 1:19.426.
After climbing from the cockpit at the end of running, the Dutch driver said: “To do 128 laps on the first day of testing is a really good day, so I’m very happy with that. We collected a lot of data, which is really important, and we’ll analyse everything tonight to see what we can improve on tomorrow when Pierre is in the car. I’ll also go into detail tonight and tomorrow to see where I can improve for my second day. So far, so good and I’m happy that we were able to do so many laps. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”
Head of Race Engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin, added: “No major problems. We were a bit late getting out this morning due to a frustrating little niggle but we got that sorted out without any real fuss and once Max got into his stride, we enjoyed a very good first day. We put good mileage on the car, we got through the workload without issue, and though most teams aren’t chasing lap time, Max put in a respectable lap. I would say that operationally, we are pretty well placed and everything is working as it should be on all sides. A solid start and a good platform for the rest of the week.”