The final day of the first of two pre-season tests in Bahrain saw Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo post 15 laps as the team’s running was hampered by issues discovered during the morning session.
"In all honesty it wasn’t a great day today," said Daniel. "I guess we still need more time. We have four more days coming up and hopefully we can maximise those. I have to say that on the run we did today the car did feel better. But unfortunately another problem arose and we couldn’t exploit that potential. I hope we can do more running next week. I’m happy I’m doing the first two days. At this stage we just need laps and I’m just hanging to get back in the car."
Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum added: "This morning we felt like we were in good shape. We had everything completed ahead of schedule and got out in good time. However, on Daniel’s install we noticed a software problem and that knocked us back for the morning. We got out again around lunchtime and put in a 10-lap run but we had to abort that as we had another mechanical issue. We brought Daniel back in and discovered some damage on the car, which following investigation was worse than we imagined. The guys worked really hard to get everything fixed and we were hopeful of getting out at the end of the day, even if just for an install. In the end, though, I don’t think it would have been possible as a couple of late red flags ended running for everyone. It’s been a difficult week: we’ve made some very good progress, particular on day two, but we’ve also had a number of problems that have again held us back. The engineering team will head back to Milton Keynes now to plan the next moves and we can only look forward and try to get everything in place for T-03 here next week."