Alexander Albon says that he has developed a greater understanding of how he wants to set-up Scuderia Toro Rosso‘s 2019 Formula 1 car.
F1 rookie Albon completed 110 laps on Wednesday, the second and final day of the official post-Spanish Grand Prix test, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Thai-British driver set the second fastest time of Wednesday’s running with a 1:17.079 on the softest C5 tyres, 1.304 seconds off of Mercedes AMG Motorsport pacesetter Nikita Mazepin and two-tenths of a second quicker than Scuderia Ferrari simulator driver Antonio Fuoco.
Albon’s day was tarnished by a stoppage at Turn 10 in the final 10 minutes of the day that brought out a session-ending red flag.
Nonetheless, Albon viewed Wednesday as a “very productive day” with Toro Rosso completing its scheduled running programmes.
“We learned more about the updates we brought here for the weekend and how they were working,” said Albon.
“I’m sure we will be able to take a lot of the things we learned from the test to the next races.”
2018 Formula 2 championship bronze medallist Albon added that he is now starting to gain confidence in how he wants the STR14 to feel, particularly in qualifying.
Albon sits level at 2-2 with team-mate Daniil Kvyat in the qualifying head-to-head battle.
Kvyat’s Chinese Grand Prix advantage is nullified by Albon missing qualifying after a serious crash in Saturday morning’s Free Practice 3 session.
“On my side, I’m understanding more how I want the car to be and where I want the setup for Qualifying,” Albon added.
“All in all, we got a lot done today.”
