Audi Technical Director James Key has delivered a positive update on the team’s early evaluations of its R26 from this week’s Formula 1 pre-season test in Barcelona.
The German squad has fully tested its debut F1 car for the first time this week, having completed an earlier shakedown at the same circuit earlier this month.
Audi has not managed to complete as many laps as many of its rivals over the two days it has run, but appears to have made steady headway, given a somewhat standing start as the new team – which took over the Sauber entry from this year – is building an F1 powertrains for the very first time.
But Key, speaking to the F1 website, stressed the need to put its priorities onto the “fundamentals” before it thinks about any other particular area on which it needs to focus.
“This test is a prove out test of a very new car for everyone, of course, but particularly for us with a very new power unit as well, the first Audi power unit,” he said.
“So, this is all about reliability and getting the fundamentals figured out.
“So I think, on that basis, although we had a little bit of delay, or quite a bit of delay in the end, actually, on the first day, for various reasons, which are all fixable, but this is why we test. We don’t want to be discovering this in Melbourne.
“Today [Wednesday] has shown some better progress. So we had a little delay this morning. It was a hydraulic leak, a real basic thing. But then this afternoon, we’ve got back on track, and we’ve done a lot of laps.
“So a step forward today, I think.”
With teams allowed to run on three out of the five days of this test, Audi has opted to use the final day as its third, before it shifts concentration onto the official pre-season tests in Bahrain next month.
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