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Red Bull says its plans for Formula 1 pre-season testing remain on course, despite Daniel Ricciardo slightly damaging its new RB14 in a filming day crash at Silverstone on Monday.
Ricciardo was giving the team’s striking-looking 2018 design its first run at a wet Silverstone just hours after the first images of the car were released.
But the team had to cut short running before its 100km limit was reached because Ricciardo crashed out in the damp conditions, hitting the barriers at low speed.
Although the Australian escaped unharmed, sources suggest the impact was enough to damage the front of the car, including the suspension, nose, front wing and floor.
With teams normally tight on spare parts at this time of year, such an incident could have compromised preparations for the first official pre-season test at Barcelona next week if replacements could not be readied in time.
But with Red Bull having a week to get back in action, a team spokesman confirmed on Tuesday that everything would be fine for Barcelona.
The team will likely accelerate its spare parts programme to ensure that the RB14 is fully prepared for the beginning of testing action next week.
Although it did not have the perfect first day, Red Bull did get through most of its schedule, – including some pitstop practice – and Ricciardo was left upbeat over the early feeling of the car.
“It’s hard to tell from a couple of laps but the initial feeling in the car is good,” he said.
“I can already feel that the rear feels pretty settled, even in these poor conditions. Those are encouraging early signs.”
Ricciardo added that the presence of the halo cockpit protection system caused no problems.
“So far I can see fine with the halo,” he said.
“I’d only done a couple of installs with it before so it was pretty new today but I really didn’t notice it was there, which is pretty good.
“Honestly, unless there’s stuff above, I don’t see any issues at all on a flat track.
“It’s been a long day, trying to get everything going and complete the filming – but a lot better to have that here than in Barcelona.”