Vergne opened the second round of testing in Barcelona with third best laptime

The third and final test in Barcelona began the same way that the previous one ended, which is to say, in the rain, which meant that slick tyres were only viable in the final hour of today’s track time. Therefore Jean-Eric spent most of the day on rain tyres and intermediates, a useful exercise as Pirelli has made changes to its wet weather tyres for this year. However, in between the showers, the team did manage some aerodynamic work, including the evaluation of a few new components. The day ended with two satisfactory runs on dry tyres. Our two drivers are alternating days at this test, which means Daniel Ricciardo takes over tomorrow.

Barcelona test - day 1
Circuit: Catalunya, 4.655 kms
Driver: Jean-Eric Vergne
Car: STR8 chassis number 03
Laps: 59
Best time: 1:25.017

Jean-Eric Vergne: “Not the best of days, because we had many things to test and the rain meant we were not able to get that much done, but we have to remember that the other teams have similar programmes and the rain affects everyone. Nevertheless, I did plenty of laps, which is good for me and good for the new car to do a high mileage. The car seems to behave really well in the wet and it also felt good in the dry, during the few laps I managed at the end of the day.”

Scuderia Toro Rosso