HRT team boss Luis Perez-Sala somehow found positives from Friday's running, which saw his drivers cover a total of 20 laps with a best time that was 13s off the pace.
Having missed all 12 days of pre-season testing, Friday's action at the Albert Park circuit was HRT's very first opportunity to run competitive laps and put their car up against it rivals.
The laps, though, were anything but competitive and the car fell short of the mark.
Pedro de la Rosa did not cover a single lap in FP1 as his team raced against the clock to get his car ready in time while Narain Karthikeyan managed just three laps before he stopped with an overheating engine.
Both drivers, though, were in action later in the day where de la Rosa covered a total of one lap in FP2 while Karthikeyan amassed 16 with a best time that was 13 seconds off the pace. He also broke down for the second time due to a hydraulic issue.
But despite his team's woes, Perez-Sala is adamant that positives can be drawn from Friday's running.
"It's been a complicated day but we knew what we were in for," he said.
"The fact that we haven't done pre-season testing means that we must get things right, not get ahead of ourselves and detect problems in order to fix them. What the majority of teams have done during winter, we have to do here.
"Narain was able to complete 19 laps and accumulate certain information. Pedro could only get through one lap, but it was an important one because the team has worked non-stop to make sure the car was finished on time for today, and they achieved it.
"Tomorrow we will continue to progress."
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