Felipe Nasr says Sauber's 2016 car feels better in every department after finally getting the chance to drive it in Barcelona.
Sauber unveiled the C35 on Monday and officially took to the track on Tuesday, the opening day of the second and final winter test. Last week it ran the C34 with a 2016 livery after pushing back its development timetable on the new car.
After completing 103 laps in the car Nasr reported improvements everywhere.
"It was impressive to have clocked that amount of laps on our first day," Nasr said. "Normally I would expect more things to need fixing, but it was quite a smooth day overall. Still a lot of work to be done though, I'm sure we're going to see a progression of the car over the next days.
"But the first impression was quite good, it felt like a step forward from last year from the chassis, from the engine, gearbox side ... it just felt like we have a step forward in everything."
It was also Sauber's first use of the 2016-spec Ferrari engine and Nasr was happy with the feeling inside the car.
"The engine has impressed me with the driveability being better: the whole response of the engine, the speed range being more progressive and more consistent. The feeling is a lot better, you can anticipate things going into the corner. And this has also helped calm down the rear of the car."