Audi credited with ‘only’ 27 laps. It was supposed to be a quiet and behind closed doors start for F1 in Barcelona and instead the first day of testing returned scenarios from a well-advanced technical cycle. The Red Bull and the Mercedes of Isack Hadjar and George Russell were separated by half a second and according to the – unofficial – data collected, the teams covered over 600 laps overall. For Audi, however, the first day seems to have had some serious setbacks given that Gabriel Bortoleto did not take to the track in the afternoon session. The count of laps completed by the R26 stopped at 27, those that the green and gold driver had already accumulated before the technical problem that emerged halfway through the morning session. “It was nice to get back on track today and get to know the R26 thoroughly – said the Brazilian driver – we managed to clock up a few kilometers during the morning, try some things and start to understand the car, the power unit and how the new regulations work. As expected for a shakedown, we encountered a couple of problems that limited our experience, but this is part of the process and is exactly why we are here. We have already learned a lot from the laps we have done and now the focus is on solving the problems in a way to be able to get back in the car in the next few days to continue clocking up the kilometres, also improving single lap performance”.
