Red Bull has brought its nightmare Jerez test to an early close, the team packing up and heading back to base shortly after the lunch break on the final day.

Whilst team boss Christian Horner and design guru Adrian Newey have headed back to base in an attempt to resolve the many issues frustrating the team - mainly thought to be about the packaging of the Renault power unit - a couple of measures were taken this morning to aid cooling but to no avail, Daniel Ricciardo completing just seven laps. In total, over four days of testing, the team has completed just 21 laps.

"It's been a very difficult test," admitted Horner. "We have had numerous Renault issues as well as chassis cooling issues, which have affected our progress. However, despite the lack of mileage, what we have managed to learn shows that the problems should be solvable for the next test in Bahrain. Part of the purpose of this early test was to learn about any issues ahead of the start of the season and there will now be a lot of focus on the dyno over the next few weeks."

"We did seven laps and every time Daniel went out we made improvements to the control of the engine," added Race Engineering Co-ordinator, Andy Damerum. "We were also making fixes to the issues that have arisen from our side and we have made progress there.

"However, we then discovered a mechanical issue with the car and after investigation it became clear we would not be able to fix this in time to run in the afternoon, so the decision was taken to retire early, take the data we have amassed and work towards the next test in Bahrain.

"Two weeks is a long time in Formula One and we and I'm sure Renault will work flat out now to solve the problems we've been having."

Chris Balfe

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