MF1 take step forward.

MF1 Racing made a strong start to its latest test session ahead of the Formula One season as the final Barcelona test of the pre-season kicked off on Tuesday.

Despite heavy rain hitting the Catalunya circuit part way through the day, the team continued making good progress with race simulation work, general reliability improvements, and control systems testing on the new M16.

Tiago Monteiro spent the day behind the wheel and will drive this morning to undertake tyre development work before Christijan Albers takes over for the rest of the test.

"We had some really promising runs with the car this morning, which was encouraging, as I believe we ended up just over one second behind the quickest time of the day," Monteiro said after posting the fourth fastest time. "We were preparing to begin practicing race simulations in the afternoon but unfortunately, it started to rain heavily on the out lap and we held off for a while, but finally called it a day when it showed no sign of letting up.

"In the end, we did about 60 laps - which is very close to a race distance - without any problems. The car's reliability is excellent and our pace is improving, so I am very pleased with the day's performance."