Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

McLaren enjoys smooth filming day after testing woes

McLaren managed to make up for some lost time by carrying out a filming day on Friday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The team had enjoyed a strong start to the week but the final two days of pre-season testing yielded just 54 laps, with only three being possible on Thursday due to a coolant leak.

Filming days were always part of the original plan this weekend - as McLaren had done last season - and on Friday the team was able to get some much-needed running completed. With the coolant leak fixed on Thursday evening, the car was ready for filming from 9am and continued until darkness fell at the circuit.

Both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso spent time in the car on Friday, and a team source confirmed there were "no issues with the running at all throughout the day".

Teams are limited to no more than 100km on a filming day - known as a promotional event - which must take place on special Pirelli tyres specifically for that purpose.

McLaren explains 'relatively minor' cause of final day problem

A closer look at the McLaren MP4-31

GALLERY: Pre-season testing

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.