F1: McLaren will try new aero on day two

McLaren will try out a range of new aerodynamic parts on the second day of the final Formula 1 pre-season test.

Following a troubled end to the first test at Barcelona as Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button completed just nine laps between them over the final day and a half, McLaren started the second week on a solid footing on Tuesday.

Alonso completed 93 laps, finishing 1.7 seconds adrift of pacesetter Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes as both used the soft tires. Alonso will now hand over the wheel to Button on Wednesday, with the team hoping to maintain the upward trend from Tuesday, and with more parts on board.

"We started the second test off on a positive note. It's always encouraging to get some good mileage under our belt on the first day.," said engineering director Matt Morris. "We spent a good chunk of the day evaluating the power unit functionality, although our attention hasn't yet turned to assessing outright performance.

"The important thing was to get as many miles on this package as possible, so from that point of view and the amount of data we have collected today, it has been very positive. We will continue to maximise our track time over the coming days, to work on ironing out reliability niggles and move on to longer runs. We also have some new aero parts arriving overnight, which will be assessed on track tomorrow with Jenson."

The one blemish on the day was a shutdown on the control electronics on the power unit just before the mid-day break, which according to new Honda boss Yusuke Hasegawa caused a software problem.

Despite that, Hasegawa said: "We were able to run a decent amount of laps to finish the first day of the second test in Barcelona. On the power unit side, we tested many different modes of running to prepare for the race, so it was a busy day for the system engineers."

Overall, Alonso was happy with his day's work following the disappointment of last week.

"It was positive to get so many laps on the board," he said. "We tested a number of different configurations and spent a lot of time working on the power unit and collecting data from the aerodynamics.

"It's too early to tell a real difference compared to the engine last week, as we focused today on shorter runs and adjusting the balance and setup of the car. However, today's full day of running has been a good start to the second test, and has provided us with lots of useful data we can analyze overnight before Jenson continues the program tomorrow."

Originally on Autosport.com