Jerez, Day 1: Caterham test report

Marcus Ericsson: "I’m very proud to have completed my first lap as an F1 driver today, and want to thank everyone in the team for working so hard to get the car ready for day one in Jerez. We’d planned to unveil it before the track opened this morning but put that back until later in the afternoon after a few problems with the final car assembly, but that was to be expected with so much new technology on the car.

"The reaction to the car has been huge - people either love it or hate it, but for me it’s not really important what it looks like, as what counts is how quick it is. If it’s fast then I really don’t care if it’s the worst looking thing out there, if it’s slow but beautiful then what’s the point of that?

"We obviously won’t know really where we are until quali in Australia, and one installation lap on day one isn’t going to tell us a lot about the car, but to have got that first lap out of the way and on to day two is a good feeling, and, for me, a positive way to start my life as an F1 driver."

Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "F1’s new era began today and I’m pleased we were part of the day one action, albeit in a small way with one installation lap completed. That lap is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work by everyone in our team, working flat out back in the UK and here in Spain, and I want to thank everybody for helping us achieve our first goal today.

"It was also good to see how calm Marcus was today with a lot going on around him. He’s been positive all day and when he was told it was time to get in the car for his first lap as an F1 driver he was just as calm as ever and that’s a good sign for his season ahead.

"We were looking at running other installation laps towards the end of the day but an engine issue cut that short, so now the night shift are coming on track, ready to push on through to tomorrow when we want to complete more significant mileage."