Robert Kubica said it took him a few laps to get used to how much quicker his Alfa Romeo is than the Williams he drove last year.

[f1tv2020testa]The team’s reserve driver headed the times with a best lap of 1’16.942 in today’s test, which is over two second faster than he managed in pre-season testing for Williams in 2019.

“Normally people think that the quicker you go, the more difficult it gets,” said Kubica. “I [wouldn’t] argue doing 1’17s this year is more difficult than doing 1’19s, 1’20s last year. So it’s a bit different difficulty.”

Kubica said it took him a few laps to adjust to the performance of Alfa Romeo’s C39 chassis when he drove it for the first time last week.

“Especially last week in the morning, the first laps I had more of a ‘brain stop’. I know how it feels here around, and I could feel that I have more grip to deliver and I can go faster, but my brain was saying well, until now, this was not possible. So it took like a couple of laps to unlock the real feeling.”

The difference between the two cars chiefly comes down to the Alfa Romeo’s superior aerodynamics, said Kubica.

“There is one big friend in this product – there are not many friends, this sport is quite tough – but there is one big friend. It is downforce. And once you have this it’s a big mate and it’s helping a lot.”

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2020 F1 season