Renault’s Kevin Magnussen is facing a massive wait until his next session to drive the RS16 after completing his testing work for the two pre-season tests in Barcelona.
The Danish driver set a 1:23.933 to go third fastest during the session in which he set 126 laps, however, his end of the day was dampened after the car suffered a water leak.
After the session, Magnussen summed up what he has learned from his 509 laps in the car during the four days, and gave an optimistic response: “It’s been a positive pre-season of testing for me and I couldn’t have wanted much more from the team. I’ve enjoyed four reliable test days with over 100 laps completed on each day.
“The car does feel good and we know what we want from it: more power and more downforce – which is what every race driver wants from his race car! Importantly, we have a good balance and a car that’s nice to drive.
“The reliability we’ve seen is a bonus as we head to the first race of the season and for me it’s been a real pleasure working with my new team. I can’t wait for Melbourne.”
Remi Taffin, the Engine Technical Director of the team, gave a reaction to the events of the day as a whole as Renault continue their work on their Formula One return: “We completed more than 500km again today which is good news. We had no issues to report aside from a small water leak at the end of the day. We are still fine tuning and making improvements ahead of Melbourne but everything is looking positive at this stage; everything’s running to plan.”
Despite the Danish driver being out of the car, it isn’t the end of the team’s testing priorities as Jolyon Palmer takes over for his final two days before the first race of the season.
Magnussen’s next drive will take place when the season begins in Melbourne, a track where the driver has had a contrasting two Australian Grands Prix so far in his career – finishing on the podium for McLaren in 2014 before failing to start the race for the team last year in his one race of 2015.
