WILLIAMS were embarrassed to miss the first two days of pre-season testing – but they are determined to make up for lost time in Spain.

The Grove-based Formula 1 team did not arrive at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya until Tuesday evening because their car was not ready.

Rookie George Russell completed 23 laps on Wednesday, finishing last, 4.8secs off the pace.

Robert Kubica made his

long-awaited return to the sport the following morning and his run yielded 48 laps.

While Williams were bottom of the timesheets at the end of play on Thursday, they were always going to be playing catch-up on their arrival to the first test.

Deputy team principal Claire Williams said the team’s failure to have the car ready for the opening day was humiliating.

“We’re not just disappointed,” she said.

“It’s embarrassing not bringing a race car to a circuit when everyone else has managed to do that, particularly a team like ours that has managed to bring a race car to testing for the past 40-odd years.”

Chief technical officer Paddy Lowe added: “We have missed a lot of time, but we are looking forward at this stage and we will make the very best use of the days remaining of winter testing.”

Enstone-based Renault’s times steadily improved over the course of the test, with Nico Hulkenberg first and Daniel Ricciardo third on the final day.

However, the former was forced to stop on track on Thursday, just moments after posting the fastest lap.

The Banbury-prepared Haas team endured electrical and seat fit issues.

But Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen both enjoyed clean runs on Thursday.

Despite the early problems, the former was in an upbeat mood.

“It’s not ideal, and we’d like to do more mileage, but the more we drive, the more we find the car is getting better,” Grosjean said.

The second test begins in Barcelona on Tuesday.