RED BULL RACING PRE-SEASON TEST 1, BARCELONA – DAY ONE

Driver:                      Daniel Ricciardo
Car:                          RB14
Laps:                        105
Best time:                1:20.179
Circuit length:         4.655km
Fastest Lap:             D. Ricciardo (1:20.179)
After taking to the track for the first time last week in its one-off ‘Disruptobull’ livery for a filming day at Silverstone, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s 2018 challenger, the RB14, today returned to its familiar racing colour scheme as testing for the new Formula 1 season got underway at a cold (and late in the day, pretty wet) Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. And after 105 trouble-free laps, Daniel Ricciardo ended the day at the top of timesheet with a best lap of 1:20.179, set in the morning session on medium-compound Pirelli tyres.
“That was… cold! But apart from that it was good,” said Daniel. “In the morning when it was dry everything was fine but in the afternoon the conditions were really tricky. It’s hard to get anything working with tyres in these temperatures, especially as they’ve also re-laid the surface. When the temperature is there it’s good, but when it’s cold there really isn’t any grip! However, it was still a good day and we got over 100 laps done, with, I think, one run of 35 laps. So reliability was solid and hats off to everyone for that. Performance? Yeah, It’s nice to see yourself at the top of the timesheets but in two-degree temperatures you really can’t learn anything!”