The Renault team managed to get two test days in Austria before the first race of the season.

It is not surprising that the head of Renault’s former client - Red Bull team - was not happy about this.

"It was a great achievement from the Spielberg project that they rented the slopes to a competitor team," Helmut said.

"Let’s just say that – it was a generous gesture."

Cyril said he had received some personal messages from Marko and found the comments funny.

"We will see on Saturday if the test was so valuable," Abiteboul told.

"If it is wet on Friday then it could turn out to have been doubly valuable. But yes, I think it was a real commitment by the team, because we had to decide it several months ago at a time when we had absolutely no idea if it would be possible to actually do this test."

"It got me some comments from Helmut, and even some text messages from Helmut, for whom I still have great affection."

"Obviously he didn’t seem aware so I was amused, but that’s not why we did it. We did it for the drivers."

"They did almost 120 and 130 laps each which gave them their feet again, and even if the car was two years old maybe a few little setup tips as well. It could save us some time, as I said especially if Friday is wet."