British American Racing launched its maiden F1 career at Barcelona on Tuesday 15 December by running its first car in the latest F1 test.



The car ran in a mixture of blue and silver colours pending the unveiling of the team's sponsorship livery in January, but featured former world champion Jacques Villeneuve and Supertec (nee Mecachrome) engines that will be fixtures next season. The combination only put in a handful of laps in what was essentially a PR exercise, but even this was enough to put a smile on the faces of the team's principal figures.



Jacques Villeneuve:





(It has been a fairly easy day - we only did three laps this morning - but, at the same time, it has been a productive day because we found some important things that could be improved. We know what the problems are, and we know how to solve them. It is very exciting to be in the new car, to be working with a new team, with new people. Obviously, there are a lot of people I don't know, but I have full confidence in them. I trust Craig and his judgement. I have a great feeling about the car, and I feel very comfortable in it.)



Craig Pollock (team principal):



(It was a truly magical moment [seeing the car out on the track]. It was like a real birth. It's the first time I have experienced this feeling in Formula One. I am so proud to be here, and I cannot stress enough the fantastic work the team has done. Unfortunately, we were not able to test at Silverstone last week because we did not have any tyres, and that is a big disappointment to us. If we had tested last week, the car would have done more laps today, and we would be further on with our development work.)



Bruno Madoit (head of testing - Supertec engines):




(Our goal today was to give the FB01 engine its track baptism, and to test the compatibility of the engine and electronics. British American Racing is the first team to try the new engine. We were elated to see our engine on the track for the first time this morning, after it went through intensive testing at the factory at Viry-Chatillon, including a full race distance simulation and more. It was therefore not a major surprise for us that the engine worked perfectly.)