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Callum Ilott says that his maiden Formula 1 test was 'incredible' as he was left in admiration of the speed of a modern F1 car.
The Briton drove the Alfa Romeo C38 around the Barcelona circuit, racking up 41 laps during the day, with his fastest time reading a 1:19.819.
However, Ilott didn't enjoy a flawless outing, as he hit the wall at Turn 3, destroying the car. Despite that, the 2019 Formula 2 driver was happy with his day of running and insists the team is too.
"It's incredible, it's hard to describe," he said. "The corner speed you can carry as well as the power, it is amazing. It was a bit of a shock and a little bit to get used to in the beginning once we started to progress from the installs.
"But to be fair, I felt quite comfortable with the car and we battled through all the testing we needed to. I was happy, the team were happy, so we were getting through that really well. So overall it was a really positive day other than the crash.
“I think the team were happy because we did actually get through the program that they wanted to and that side of things, so afterwards it would have been more focused on me to do some performance runs, which is a shame I missed out on, but these things happen, unfortunately.”
Ilott added that the cause of the crash was not "as obvious as I thought it was", and stated that the team was looking over the data to conclude what happened.
The 20-year-old admitted that he must take some blame for the collision with the barriers, as he was in the driving seat.
"I've always got to take some blame, because it's a crash. We’re going to see why at that point I lost it, because it looks pretty similar to any other lap.
"We’ll look at that in more detail, but overall it’s been an incredible day. If you’d asked me three hours ago I was obviously a bit more distraught.
"But these guys have supported me right from the beginning of the day to the end of the day and the attitude towards everyone has been really helpful and really strengthening.”
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (1)
Login to replyf1dave
Posts: 782
"Positive except for crash" sounds exactly like Stroll comment from last week.