Bad luck for Esteban Ocon in Barcelona

This is the kind of debut a driver wants to succeed in. However, Esteban Ocon will certainly not have fond memories of his first time behind the wheel of an F1 car during a race weekend. In fact, he was only able to complete six short laps, none of which were timed: « I was eager to get behind the wheel of the R.S.16, so it’s really unfortunate that Friday the 13th decided to target us! I spent a little time in the car, but I couldn’t complete a full lap. ».

Due to a puncture, then a battery problem: « The team saw that the tire was losing pressure, and I was able to return. I waited in the garage until I could get back on track with a new set of tires. But we had this battery problem, so it really wasn’t my day! »

But it was written that this RS16 would play tricks on its driver all day. Indeed, Jolyon Palmer, who got back in his seat in the afternoon, also experienced problems with a new puncture on his car, which caused a session interruption: “We made bad fortune. We do not know what caused this puncture and it was frustrating to lose so much time. We thought it would be difficult to get back on track after the car returned to the garage. But my team did a fantastic job fixing the damage. I am very grateful for the laps I was able to do at the end of the session.”

On the other hand, no mishaps to report for Kevin Magnussen, who experienced two sessions without major issues. His times allowed him to break into the top 15 (11th in the morning, 14th in the afternoon), but more importantly, he managed to complete 70 laps over the day, which helps gather a certain amount of valuable data: « The grip level was quite low this morning, but it improved throughout the day. It seems that I was on the “lucky” side of the garage today… so I hope luck will be with me for the rest of the weekend. We have a good idea of where we want to go after this day, and I think our pace is up to our expectations. »