Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo set the quickest time on the first Formula 1 test day of the 2016 season as Pirelli tested wet tyres at Paul Ricard.
He was the fastest of the three 2015-spec cars taking part in the two-day session at the sometime French Grand Prix venue.
McLaren test driver Stoffel Vandoorne was 0.4 seconds behind and second quickest ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari at a cool and overcast Ricard.
Both Red Bull and Ferrari completed 10 sets of 10-lap runs on a full-wet prototype tyre.
In total 285 laps were covered across the three teams.
McLaren didn’t finish its programme from Pirelli as Vandoorne stopped out on track shortly before the close of play due to an engine problem. His McLaren returned to the pits on the back of a flat-bed truck.
The two-day test has been organised by Pirelli so it can test new full-wet tyres.
The track was artificially soaked by sprinklers and each car left the pits at 10-seconds intervals, circulating for roughly 10 laps before returning to the pits so the track could be soaked again.
Pirelli has been working on a combination of different compounds, different tread depths and configurations, but as the temperature at the south of France venue never rose about 10 degrees centigrade conditions were not ideal.
The second and final day commences at 9.30am local time on Tuesday.
Sebastian Vettel will take over driving duties from Raikkonen at Ferrari, while Daniil Kvyat replaces Ricciardo at Red Bull.
Vandoorne will complete the second day for McLaren.
MONDAY RESULTS:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m08.713s 99 2. Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1m09.131s +0.418s 87 3. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m09.637s +0.924s 99
