Daniel Ricciardo says he was lifted to end the opening day of testing in a positive note, having been hit by issues earlier on at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Ricciardo had completed only three laps when his RB13 came to a halt on the approach to Turn 4, causing the sole red flag of the day.
Red Bull diagnosed an engine sensor issue but then a battery problem accentuated matters further, before Ricciardo was eventually able to return to action.
Ricciardo ultimately racked up 50 laps across the course of the day, finishing fifth in the standings, his best effort 1.161s adrift of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
“I didn’t get many laps but the afternoon was better,” Ricciardo explained.
“We still had a few little issues but then the last two hours was more like a test and I was in the car most of the last two hours and it was nice to end the day on a bit of a positive.
“We’ll make steady steps [and] hopefully tomorrow Max [Verstappen] gets more running and then we can do some more tuning.”
Ricciardo is also confident that Formula 1 teams only scratched the surface of their potential on Monday, with further gains to come across the remainder of the test days.
“I think there’s a lot more to come from the cars for sure,” he said.
“It’s cool [weather], the track you feel like it’s cold, the tyres probably not in their optimum temperature.
“But already the times, Lewis today [was] quicker than his qualifying time last year, sure it’ll be faster, it’s cool but I think we’re going to get a lot quicker.”
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