Jenson Button racked up 86 laps behind the wheel of his MP4-31 yesterday of the Circuit de Catalunya, leading the time sheets in morning segment before ending the day third fastest overall, about half a second behind Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari.
As part of its ongoing development program, McLaren-Honda took the opportunity to evaluate several components which may be introduced in the near future. Button was able to enjoy extensive runs and even a race simulation in the afternoon.
"Today was a seamless day of testing – with both the team and car working well throughout the day, it’s satisfying that we were able to complete day one of the test according to plan," said McLaren team manager Dave Redding.
Stoffel Vandoorne will now take over testing duties from Button, the Belgian returning to the McLaren cockpit for the first time since his 10th place finish in his maiden Grand Prix in Bahrain, where he replaced a still convalescent Fernando Alonso.
"We’ll look to run a similar program with Stoffel, refining yesterday's work and gathering yet more data ahead of next week’s Monaco Grand Prix," said Redding.
On the power unit front, Honda focused its work on preparing for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix while upgrades are expected thereafter in Canada.
"Today’s power unit run program consisted mainly of race set-up for the Monaco Grand Prix next weekend," said Honda R&D engineer Satoshi Nakamura.
"The street circuit of Monaco has many slow corners which require stability in the engine’s low-revving range, so we focused on its drivability and the various modes of the power unit to bring out its full potential.
"We finished the day with 86 solid laps of trouble free running, and we are looking forward to the second day of testing tomorrow."
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