First taste of the F1 W07 Hybrid for Esteban Ocon on productive day at Silverstone

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS began this week's in-season test at Silverstone today with Mercedes-Benz Junior driver Esteban Ocon at the wheel of the F1 W07 Hybrid

Esteban emerged for his first run at 09:00 this morning, completing 80 laps before the hour-long lunch break at 13:00 and a further 43 laps in the afternoon - finishing for the day at 17:50Today's program focused on wet setup work to better understand Sunday's race performance at Silverstone. The team also worked on brakes, aero data collection, engine systems and software.Fellow Mercedes-Benz Junior driver Pascal Wehrlein was also in action today, completing 48 laps of tyre testing with Pirelli at the wheel of the F1 W05 Hybrid (2014)Mercedes-Benz Power Units (excluding that used by Pascal) today completed a total of 1.626 km

Esteban Ocon It felt great to drive the car. It took me a few runs to get used to it, as driving a Formula One car is still new to me - especially here at Silverstone as it has a few high-speed corners. But, at the end, I was really close to the limit, so that was a really good feeling. We needed to make most of the early weather, as we knew it would rain in the afternoon, so we planned most of our running in the morning. The afternoon was a bit tricky but we still managed to keep going and were able to finish our programme. The weather in the afternoon was quite tough, as it kept changing constantly. But I think we were able to manage the situation well and it gave me the possibility to experience dry and wet weather conditions. That was a great experience, as I was able to test all the different kinds of tyres. To drive in DTM and Formula One is an amazing feeling. I really enjoyed driving for this great team today and it's a big chance for a young driver like me to get that experience, so I am looking forward to tomorrow with a big smile on my face.