Official F1 pre-season testing kicked off last Monday morning and it was the team’s established driver, Marcus Ericsson, who was entrusted with the new Alfa Romeo-sponsored C37-01 with the team reporting that the day’s programme had focused on completing aerodynamic and mechanical tests.

The weather was very mixed for the first day with dry and rainy periods under a cloudy sky, however Swedish driver was able to get a good first impression of the team’s new car and he completing 63 laps in total with his best lap being in 1:23.408.

That left him placed eleventh of the thirteen drivers on track during the opening day, ahead of Nikita Mazepin (Force India) and Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) neither of whom set a representative laptime.

“It was very exciting to be back on track and drive the C37,” Ericsson said after the conclusion of the first day of testing. “Over the course of the day, we gathered some interesting data. The C37 is based on a new concept, both mechanically and aerodynamically.

“It has been interesting to see how these changes translate to the car’s behaviour on track,” he continued. “We completed a few good runs, however [we] had to cut the afternoon session short due to the tricky weather conditions. We dealt with low temperatures of both the air and the asphalt, which made it difficult to get the tyres to work properly.

“Although this was the first day of winter testing it has been a positive and productive day,” the Swede added. “There is potential in our new car and we have to continue working hard to understand how to unlock it. I look forward to building on this on Wednesday.”

Yesterday (Tuesday) saw the second day of testing in Barcelona and this time it was Ferrari junior driver Charles Leclerc who got his first taste of the new Sauber F1 single-seater.

Again, the temperatures were very low (air 3° – 7°C, track 4° – 10°C) with dry periods as well as rain and snow but the youngster was still able to complete a total of 81 laps with a best time of 1:22.721.

That left the Monégasque driver tenth fastest of the eleven cars in action during the course of Day 2, ahead of the Haas-Ferrari of Kevin Magnussen while nine tenths of a second adrift of the Force India of Esteban Ocon immediately above him on the timesheets.

“First of all, it is great to be back racing after a long winter break,” Leclerc said at the end of yesterday. “Overall, it was a very positive first day of testing for me. Although the weather conditions were not ideal, with low temperatures and even some snow in the afternoon, I was able to develop a better sense of what the car behaves like on track.

“We completed a good number of laps, completing aerodynamic and mechanical tests throughout the day,” the 20-year-old added. “The C37 has potential, and I look forward to driving again on my second day of Test 1.”

Meanwhile, at the end of Tuesday’s second day of running Jörg Zander, the team’s Technical Director commented: “It was another positive day of testing – despite the low temperatures and tricky weather conditions. Building on the data we collected yesterday, we continued our programme by doing set-up work and taking aerodynamic measurements.

In the morning, we were not able to run as many laps as expected due to the weather,” Zander continued. “In the afternoon, we focused on long runs while testing different tyre compounds. It was important for Charles to get used to the new car as well as to the team procedures. Overall, a productive day.”