Stoffel Vandoorne managed only 37 laps on the second day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya as McLaren had to conduct precautionary checks of their car after a problem with their exhaust.

“Unfortunately we had this small issue with the exhaust clip just after lunch,” said Vandoorne. The fault “detached the exhaust and blew a lot of hot air on some of the wiring looms,” he explained.

“One of the looms was the brake wire as well so the team took a precautionary check which meant things took a bit longer than expected.

Vandoorne said the setback was “not a big problem” and the team had “a positive day with a lot of things learned.”

“Obviously [it was] very nice to get back in the car after the winter,” he said. “It felt like I hadn’t left the cockpit which was positive.”

“Mainly what held us back this morning was the weather conditions, obviously very cold and damp circuit. So that took a while to get the running started for everyone. We took the opportunity to do some rake work, gather some aero data during this time.”

“After that the track got in a reasonable condition, managed to do a few proper runs and try to understand a nit more the car we’ve got this year. The first impressions were very positive. It felt very comfortable, no surprises, some good learning done.”

Vandoorne said his initial impression of the Renault power unit was “very positive.”

“There is no big things to say, really, everything feels nice. Drive-ability feels very good. Every settings we change are working as expected. So far there’s nothing much to tell.”

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2018 F1 season