A gearbox issue curtailed the day early for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team, with Carlos Sainz Jr having run 55 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya in the new STR11 on Monday.
The Spaniard had the honour of being the first to test the STR11, which was running all in blue without the 2016 livery due to the lateness of completing the design with the new Ferrari power unit, and set a time of 1m27.180s that was enough for him to set the seventh fastest time of the day before the gearbox gremlins struck.
“We were all obviously very much looking forward to today and it was a great achievement to drive out after not the easiest of winters,” said Sainz Jr. “The team has done a great effort and today was quite a decent first day.
“We managed to have a very clean morning and it was also being a smooth afternoon up until we suddenly had to stop the car… So we had to unfortunately call it a day, but up until then it was all going perfectly and I felt good in the car.”
Max Verstappen will have his first opportunity behind the wheel of the STR11 on Tuesday when testing resumes in Spain.
