HRT Abu Dhabi young driver test Tuesday report

Just two days after taking part in the last GP2 race of the season, Dani Clos got behind the wheel of HRT F1 Team's car number 22. Without a second to lose, the 23 year old driver from Barcelona got out on track as soon as the session began and made the most of the two timed sessions completing 68 laps, a total of 377.67 kilometres, with a best time of 1'45.329.

The scheduled programme consisted of testing aerodynamics and medium, soft and supersoft tyres in the morning, and trying out different rear suspension adjustments and more tyre testing in the afternoon.

Dani Clos

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Dani Clos:

"I'm very happy with how the test went today. The first thing I had to do was adapt to the car as it's been three years since I last drove a Formula 1 car and the leap from GP2 is quite notable. In the morning we carried out various aero tests and I think we extracted a lot of information that will be useful for the team.

We also tested the three compound tyres which helped me to see the different performance and behavior of each one in order to adapt my style to the conditions. In the afternoon we carried out some different tests with the rear end and also with the different tyres to try and extract as much data as possible. The planning was good as was the understanding with the team.

We could reach a good level of performance with the car and I think that the team was satisfied with me both on and off the track and I'm confident that we have set some solid bases for the future. It has been a great experience, not only dr iving an F1 car but doing it for a Spanish team is something fantastic".

Xavier Marcos, race engineer:

"The planning for today's testing was quite extensive so we started to work early on. In the morning, the first thing was for the driver to get comfortable and he only took a couple of stints to do so. Then we started with aero adjustments and tyre testing and focused on improving the car's traction in the afternoon.

We always did short stints and tested out various aspects which gave us a lot of data which can be put in to use for next year's car. Communication with the driver was fluid and, although we still have to go through the data, the work we have done has been positive".