Stoffel Vandoorne ended the final day of in-season testing with the fifth fastest time on Wednesday, and felt his running was successful as he completed 114 laps of the Silverstone circuit.
The McLaren-Honda driver spent the majority of the day testing aero updates and doing power unit work, using the time to try and solve some of the issues race drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button encountered during last weekend’s British Grand Prix at the circuit.
Vandoorne was happy he was able to push hard on his MP4-31 despite having not sat in the car since the last in-season test at Barcelona in May.
“We’ve had quite a successful day – a lot of aero stuff to do this morning and then after that I got some good runs in,” said Vandoorne. “We’ve been testing various new systems we’ve got on the car.
“It’s the final day of in-season testing so there’s always a lot on the programme to complete – not just aero and set-up but also power unit-related work.
“We weren’t too rain-affected and made the most of the dry conditions today. The car felt positive and I could push straight away, which is always a nice feeling after a few months out of the cockpit.
“We pressed on with a lot of development to try and resolve some of the issues we had during the British Grand Prix weekend, which wasn’t always easy as the wind changes a lot here as the day goes on and it makes quite a big difference to car balance.
“Luckily, we had a lot of tyres left because of all the rain yesterday, so in between set-up changes we tried to get as many laps in as possible, and I’m pleased with how today has gone.”
