World champions McLaren, who last week said they would first run their new car on either Tuesday or Wednesday, were not ready to run until late in the morning session and decided because of the weather to wait to run until Wednesday. They will now take part in each of the final three days of the test.
For Ferrari, Charles Leclerc drove in the morning and Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon, doing a total of 123 laps – just short of two grand prix distances – between them.
Hamilton only experienced the car in the wet and said it had been a “very challenging” but “really productive” day.
F1 has introduced revised rules for chassis, engines, tyres and fuel this season that means the cars are completely new, and a much bigger role for the hybrid part of the engine will make energy management a major factor in F1 this season.
Seven-time champion Hamilton added: “Such a major regulation change, so to get through the day with no major issues is great. We just need to try and get some more days like this.”
Asked for his aims over the remainder of the test, Hamilton said: “Hoping to experience the car in the dry and understanding balance. Just understanding the deployment. That is going to be crucial, how to utilise the power, the battery through the lap and recharging it and all that kind of stuff.
“We have all done a lot of work in the simulator, but we still need to go through the data and understand it.”
Leclerc said: “It’s not been the best conditions because it was a bit rainy, but we did our programme because we are not focusing on performance.”