Carlos Sainz Jr. had a productive final day for McLaren F1 Team during the second pre-season test of the 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Spaniard continued to build on his pre-season programme after topping the second day of the second week. He completed on day four 134 laps, more than other driver and team.
McLaren’s main focus was on their race simulations, which had resulted in Sainz setting the sixth fastest time on a 1:16.913 on the softest compound, less than 0.7 seconds off the pace.
“It’s always nice to go to Australia finishing the test on a bit of a high, having covered a lot of mileage – the most for me in all four days of testing,” Sainz said.
“I also finished my first race simulation without any issues, and did some performance runs in the morning which were useful for our understanding of the car.”
Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd.
The test was the last for the Woking-based team before they head to the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne for the 2019 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Sainz however says that it is “impossible to tell” where McLaren stand in comparison to the rest of the grid.
“Now I’ll go back to the factory to do some final work with the team so we can feel fully prepared before the first race. We’ve been very focussed on our own preparation and performance, so it’s impossible to tell exactly how that compares to our competitors.”
“Thank you to the team for their hard work over the past two weeks, and now we look forward to getting the season properly started.”
The Australian Grand Prix kickstarts on the 15-17 March for the opening race of the new Formula 1 season.
