Circuit: Circuit de Catalunya – 4.655 kms; Driver: Jaime Alguersuari; Chassis: STR5-02; Best time: 1:21.571, 104 laps

Listening to the radio conversation between the pit wall and the car this afternoon, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a grand prix Sunday.

A full race day simulation was on Jaime Alguersuari’s programme, for what is his last day of winter testing, prior to the Bahrain Grand Prix. The race distance was duly completed, including one pit stop and one further unscheduled trip down pit lane, when another car caused a red flag stoppage. The STR 5 ran reliably throughout.

Having practised pit stops at the factory on a daily basis over the winter and also at the three previous test sessions in Valencia and Jerez, this morning the race crew tackled their first ‘real’ pit stops, using the new pit stop gantry designed to accommodate the lack of race refuelling.

After completing the full programme for the day, the team stopped testing prior to the official end of the session. Sébastien Buemi takes over at the wheel for the final two days.

Alguersuari said: “Today was very useful in that it is a good confidence boost to havecompleted a race simulation on my last day of testing before the start of the season. It is still too early to talk about where we are in performance terms, but with a good mileage achieved over these four test sessions, I feel much better prepared than when I made my debut in the middle of last year.”

From the news released by Scuderia Toro Rosso