Bahrain II, Day 1: McLaren test report

For the final test of the pre-season, our drivers will spend alternate days in the cockpit of MP4-29, providing them with equal opportunity to sample the new components that will be fitted to the car for the last two days of the test.

Consequently, Kevin Magnussen drives Thursday and Saturday, with Jenson driving Friday and Sunday.

Without any new parts to evaluate, the first two days of running will focus on mileage and reliability: Kevin spent the morning in Bahrain undertaking a series of short, set-up runs. After the lunchbreak, he completed a full-race distance, and fitted in some further set-up work.

The engineers also took the opportunity to run through a series of prove-outs, testing the car while running it on the pitlane speed-limiter, and doing practice starts.

Jenson takes over, running a near-identical programme to today – focusing on set-up work and long-runs.