King takes plenty of positives from his Spanish F1 test with Manor

The 22-year-old doubled the mileage he achieved when testing last year’s car in Abu Dhabi, but a red flag incident in the morning, caused by him losing the rear end into turn 7, and an early finish meant he was unable to get any low fuel flying laps in.

“Unfortunately the day was cut a bit short and I didn’t get to do the high performance runs we’d planned,” said King.

“It’s a bit frustrating I couldn’t show what I am capable of in terms of outright speed, but that would have just been to satisfy my ego and the test really was all about the team and they’re very happy with the work we did.”

The testing of the MRT05 followed quickly on from a podium finish in the GP2 Series, but the Harbury driver said it was an easy adjustment.

“The power increase is always impressive but to be honest I was able to adapt very quickly and, as this was my second time driving an F1 car, I knew what to expect and felt more at home this time.

“It was a bit different because when I tested with Manor Racing last time I’d already spent much of the season in the garage with them, whereas this time I hadn’t been on the flyaways and some of the team personnel have changed.

“So it felt quite new, but really positive.”