Stoffel Vandoorne took plenty of positives from his first extended test in the McLaren-Honda MCL32 on Tuesday in Barcelona despite completing just 40 laps due to engine issues.
A loss of power forced Vandoorne to curtail his running in the morning, with McLaren changing the power unit on his car before sending him back out in the afternoon.
The Belgian ended the day 10th in the final classification, 4.6 seconds off the fastest time set by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, with McLaren completing less than a quarter of the laps of mileage leader Mercedes.
This followed issues on the opening day of testing for McLaren, with Fernando Alonso managing just 29 laps in total due also to an oil systems problem with his Honda power unit.
Despite the struggles, Vandoorne took plenty of positives from the running as he got to grips with the MCL32 ahead of his first full season in F1.
"I think it was positive to get back behind the wheel after four months with no driving. It was a good first feeling from me," Vandoorne said.
"Immediately I felt confident with the car and very comfortable. That’s a first very positive sign. When you have a new car and new regulations and you feel confident immediately, then it’s a good start.
"Unfortunately we had a loss of engine power during the morning. We’re still investigating what the issues exactly are. It’s a shame we couldn’t do more laps. It would have been great to put in more laps. Hopefully overnight we can analyse what went wrong and come up with a reliable car tomorrow I think.
"This is my first day of testing. Fernando didn’t get many laps yesterday. Tomorrow and the day after are going important days for us, so we’re going to try and make the most of every situation and every lap I get on track I’ll try to make the most of it. I’ll try to give as much feedback as possible and for myself as well.
"It’s going to be my first season in Formula 1, so every lap I can get, I need, and it’s a valuable experience for me. We’d have hoped to do more laps but we’ll work hard as a team overnight and hope tomorrow we come back stronger."
When asked about the exact problem on the Honda power unit, Vandoorne said that investigations were still ongoing.
"At the moment we don’t know what the exact problem was," he explained.
"As I said, we lost some power during the morning, so we decided to change engines. I think tonight we’ll analyse what exactly what went wrong, and then we’ll probably give you an answer about it."
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