Esteban Ocon left in awe of 'unbelievable' Haas: 'People have climbed mountains'

Esteban Ocon was left in awe of the "unbelievable effort" Haas has made to get into a decent position for the Barcelona test, sharing that the team has "climbed mountains."

Haas opted to run on the opening day of the five-day test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Ocon getting his chance behind the wheel of the VF-26.

In the morning session, the Frenchman completed an impressive 66 laps, with a best lap time of 1m 24.520, gathering significant data for the American outfit. In the afternoon, Ocon improved to set a 1m 21.301 and completed around 150 laps.

It was a positive start to testing in Barcelona for Haas, showcasing its new Toyota-inspired livery as part of the duo's strengthening relationship.

According to Ocon, the team had the car ready to leave the garage immediately on Monday morning, despite only being at Fiorano last Saturday for Oliver Bearman to complete an initial shakedown.

"I think, first of all, an unbelievable effort from the team, really, to put the car down at 09:20 this morning," Ocon told F1TV after the opening morning session. 

"The car was ready at nine, but we were waiting on better track conditions and a few things that we wanted to be perfect before we went out.

"But yeah, from Fiorano testing with Oliver [Bearman] to here, people have really climbed mountains to make this car work. And it’s been really good. So we are dealing with the plan and learning as we go.

"Of course, it's a busy programme for the day, so it’s going to be difficult to complete it, but for the first real day of driving, I think so far it’s going really well. And yeah, we will keep pushing to make sure that all the details are covered.

"We have more days than normal, which is a good thing."