Quotes from Saturday at Barcelona

Pastor Maldonado, fastest on super softs

Lotus: Pastor Maldonado: “We achieved a lot today and it was great to complete so many laps and end the day as the fastest car. Certainly, I feel much more confident in the E23 and we’re learning a lot about it with all the laps we’re completing. I’m able to push when needed and everything about the whole package feels a lot more together than last year, especially if you remember where we were in terms of performance and reliability during the pre-season in 2014. We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re making very good progress so we’re all very positive about the work being done."

Force India: Pascal Wehrlein: “It was great to be back in the car after a surprising Thursday and this turned out to be another great day. When you get into a completely different car to what you are used to, everything is new, from how the car feels to the buttons and dials on the steering wheel. Having had the experience on Thursday really helped me with this, I learnt a lot in these two days and that made a difference for me. The team did really help me settle in my role: everyone welcomed me from the start and made it really easy to work. The atmosphere is great. Today's work was very focused on set-up and we even managed to include a longer run: it was a good day's work and I am looking forward for more opportunities in the future."

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer Force India: "It's never ideal to have rain showers disrupting the day, but in the end everyone is under the same sky and facing the same challenges. Today it was a matter of adapting to the conditions and making the most of the time we had and I feel we achieved that. Pascal settled within the team really well in his first full day, getting to know the engineers and the mechanics; he did a very mature and solid job without putting a single foot wrong. He handled the changing conditions well and did not let the very low track temperatures affect him. We managed to include both set-up and long run evaluations in our program and, despite the poor weather, it was still a productive day. Our final day of testing tomorrow will be similar to what we did yesterday, allowing Nico Hulkenberg to do his first running on the 2015 tires and to get his first mileage of the season."

Red Bull: Daniil “We learned a lot today," smiled Daniil afterwards. “It was good to follow up Daniel’s total of yesterday with a lot of laps again today. That kind of consistent running is very useful for us and very encouraging. It’s hard to know where we are and it’s too early to make any kind of predictions, even though we’re getting closer to the first race. We’re just getting on with the job, making the car better every day and very productive days like today are really important."

Head of Red Bull Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin added: “Today’s running with Dany was pretty much a carbon copy of what we did with Daniel yesterday, although this morning we were hampered a bit by the weather conditions. As yesterday, we got through a lot of pit stop practice and tire work in the morning but today the conditions for the last hour of the morning meant it was largely pointless to do any running, so we lost maybe 30 laps of running there. However, in the afternoon we switched Dany over to long runs and worked through that program without any hitches. It is reassuring to have done these two days of long distance runs without problems at all. It means that we now have a solid baseline to work from and we can move forward to the next phase of our testing work, which should build on performance."

Toro Rosso: Max Verstappen (Car 33) “A good session and the first time I’ve done over a hundred laps in a single day. We got through a lot of items on the job sheet, with some faster runs in the morning. The car felt really good and it seems we are improving the car step by step. Compared to after the first test in Jerez, I feel more confident and more comfortable with the car, as I start to learn about every aspect of the job. Now, I’m really looking forward to seeing what the engineers can come up with for the final test here next week."

Wiiliams: Felipe Massa: I did a few laps at the start of the day, but it was hard to gain anything from my perspective. The program for the day was to practice the pitstop procedure which come a Grand Prix are always important. It is positive to have the team ready and it’s always good for the driver to practice so the team know what to expect. The whole procedure has to be quick and we can only do that by practicing.

Williams Valtteri Bottas: The program for the whole day was pitstop practice. It was difficult to get a feel for the car on the rest of the lap as I was on old tires and my only proper run was when the track was very cold at the end of the day. It was good for the team to practice the pitstop procedure, but also for me to practice too. Australia is just a few weeks away and we need to be ready for all elements of the race. Every stop is important and it’s good to be well prepared.

Sauber: Marcus Ericsson: “It was not an easy day for us. With the gearbox issue from yesterday, we missed almost the whole morning session. In the afternoon we were struggling a bit to understand the car. We were changing different things, but we could not get the car to work as we wanted. However, we managed to do some laps, and it is also important to learn from these sort of days. We will go through the data and make sure we take a step forward for the next days."