McLaren were forced to switch their engine after rookie Stoffel Vandoorne felt there was something wrong with the car on his instillation laps, the second time in as many days they’ve had to change the engine.
“We lost power to the power unit,” Honda said. “At the moment we don’t know what has caused the issue. We are currently changing the power unit in order to investigate fully and identify the cause.”
Of course, it’s better to encounter these problems in testing rather than in a race, but it will be causing frustration at Honda, who risked a radical change this season to try and get some more performance out of their engine.
Vandoorne did manage to get back out in the afternoon session and completed a full 40 laps, setting the tenth fastest time.
Other teams also had some technical issues that meant they spent more time in the pits than they would have liked. Force India changed their exhaust, cutting two hours off of their morning session in the process, Renault were forced to wait in the garage whilst they waited for parts to arrive that had been sent overnight, and Sauber also faced engine problems.
There were plenty of non-technical problems today too. Multiple drivers span or almost lost their cars due to oversteering problems, but any stoppages were very brief and nobody was left stranded on the track.
The only team to suffer serious problems due to a spin was Williams.
Lance Stroll got his Formula One career off to a brilliant start by completing only twelve laps in testing after spinning and damaging the front wing of his Williams.
“Second run, just getting to grips with the car and kind of no grip and lost the car,” he said. “I went through the gravel, a little pin, drove back to the garage, and we broke a little winglet on the front wing, and we only had one. That has been unfortunate and ended our day.”
The incident happened in the morning session, but the damage to the winglet ruled them out of the afternoon. Williams have sent for a replacement, and said they aim to get out on track at the earliest opportunity tomorrow.
Whilst almost everybody else was having problems, Mercedes showed off yet another new aero piece, the “double t-wing”. It’s understood the wing streamlines the air to the front wing and causes more downforce.
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