Esteban Ocon was content after completing one hundred and thirty laps on the second day of the second pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday, despite the Frenchman finishing twelfth overall on the timing screens.
The Sahara Force India F1 Team racer enjoyed his busiest day of pre-season testing so far, having only previously driven the VJM11 during day two of the first pre-season test, but despite the times not securing a position inside the top ten, he feels the pace of the car is promising.
Ocon feels there are still questions to be answered to how to get the best performance out of the VJM11, but he hopes between himself and team-mate Sergio Perez, they can unlock that potential across the next two days.
“I’m really happy with today. 130 laps is a great effort and we’ve learned a huge amount,” said Ocon. “The long runs went well and our pace looks promising at this stage.
“It’s going to help us take some steps forward as we prepare for Melbourne. It will be interesting to see how Checo feels after his day in the car tomorrow, but I feel optimistic after the work we’ve done today.
“There are plenty of things to analyse and more questions to answer, but we still have two days of testing. I think we are in a good place at the moment.”
