AlphaTauri looks back on first test day with satisfaction: 'Car looks fast'

AlphaTauri can look back with satisfaction on the first test day in Barcelona. Yuki Tsunoda got behind the wheel of the AT03 on Wednesday and drove quite a few laps. The team still has a full program ahead of them, but the first day was positive.

Tsunoda managed to set the seventh fastest time on the scoreboard today, but during the winter test, times don't say much. In terms of reliability, however, the team seems to be well on its way, as the Japanese drove a total of 121 laps. Ferrari drove the most laps today with 153.

In an official press release from AlphaTauri, Tsunoda reacts to his first day in the new car: "It’s been a really productive day and a good start to testing for the team. We found a few things that we still need to play with but we’re happy with how things are going so far. The car has been really reliable today, we needed to get as much data as possible and we’ve managed to do this. We’ve still got five more days of testing to go before the first race, I think currently the car looks quite fast, but we won’t know the true performance of it until Bahrain Qualifying.”

Successful day for AlphaTauri

On Thursday, it will be Pierre Gasly's turn to drive the AT03. The test days in Barcelona will continue until Friday 25 February, before the F1 circus leaves for Bahrain for the second week of testing from 10 to 12 March. So many conclusions cannot be drawn after just one day, but AlphaTauri can speak of a successful start.

"We have had a very successful first day of testing here in Barcelona. Yuki was happy with the feel of the car, it remained reliable throughout the day, and we had no major issues. We’ve had a positive first day following our plan and have already gathered a lot of data, which we will analyse tonight and feed into the test plan for Pierre, who takes over, tomorrow", says engineer Jonathan Eddolls.