After going second quickest on the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso will be back on track again tomorrow - and this time he will have the full day to himself in the cockpit of the Aston Martin AMR23.
That's because the team is still awaiting word on Lance Stroll's recuperation from hand and wrist injuries sustained in a training accident while cycling last week.
The squad has waved off suggestions that Sebastian Vettel may be recalled from retirement for a one-off guest appearance if Stroll is not well enough in time to race in next weekend's season opener.
On Thursday, it was reserve driver Felipe Drugovich who took Stroll's place the wheel, although his time on track was limited to 40 laps due to an electrical problem with the car which caused the only red flag of the day.
"We had a few electrical issues," Drugovich said. "Actually just one, but it took quite a bit of time just to get it fixed. But it was pretty straightforward, an easy thing.
"After that we got going," he said. "I got up to speed quickly and before long I was back in a good rhythm. Exciting for me, exciting times.
"Lots of tests for the team," he added. "We completed our run plan and gathered some valuable data for the team. I did quite a lot of aerodynamic testing, which is incredibly important with a new car."
Despite the problems on the other side of the garage, and a delay to his own stint while the floor of the car was repaired, it was a strong start to the season for Alonso who was just 0.029s off Max Verstapen's best time of the day.
“Overall I am pleased with the first official day of testing here in Bahrain," said Alonso after completing 60 laps during the first day of testing. "As a team, we reached 100 laps in total.
"That's a strong start for the first day, despite some minor issues that we resolved," he pointed out.
"We are still experimenting with lots of different things, so every lap we do is important and we learn something new about the car every time we go out.
"These first steps are always intriguing and so far I am enjoying this part of the winter preparation. We will use the information and learning from today to optimise things further tomorrow.”
“A solid opening day of testing on the whole," agreed Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough. "We had a few issues, which cost us some track time, but when the car was running we were able to get through our test plan.
"Fernando made good progress during the afternoon session and is continuing to familiarise himself with the new car, tyres and people around him. His feedback was incredibly valuable.
"The car was responding well to the changes we made and we will continue to review the data this evening ahead of Fernando’s time in the car tomorrow.
"We will have to recover the time we lost [due to this morning's electronics issue] over the next two days to ensure we maximise our learnings ahead of the race next week.
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