Baku’s been and gone and so our attention turns to Barcelona, our second stop in Europe and host of the fifth round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. After two long weeks of pre-season testing in freezing cold conditions, we hope the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has had chance to thaw out, ready for battle to resume. A popular circuit in Europe, Barcelona presents a track both Lance and Sergey are familiar with, and it also hosts the first in-season test of 2018 in the week following the Grand Prix. The team’s Official Young Driver, Oliver Rowland, will drive on day one of the two-day test before Official Reserve and Development Driver, Robert Kubica, takes over the FW41 on day two.
 

PADDY LOWE:
We come to Spain this weekend and the very demanding Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. They say that the car that is quickest around here is generally going to be quickest at most races in the season. It is the first race where traditionally you see many more upgrades arriving, as we are back to our truck-based logistics rather than airfreight which has seen us through the first four events. We are bringing a reasonably significant upgrade to this race, but probably not different to most other teams. It’s going to be a busy weekend for us. We have Robert Kubica taking part in FP1 in place of Sergey; his first of three FP1 appearances this season. We have a busy Friday programme and it will be interesting to get Robert’s feedback on the car. Sergey has driven many laps on this track in pre-season testing so he won’t miss out too much. We also have two days of testing following the race with our Official Young Driver Oliver Rowland, and Robert, and we have a huge programme to fit into those two days to make progress with the development of the car.