Four tests have been going on over the past four days in two different countries, but one in particular stood out as the most intriguing.

Lando and Daniel's Pirelli tyre tests in Austria naturally attracted the most attention, while Will Stevens' talent is already well known to fans, but Colton's maiden run in F1 machinery had an air of intrigue about it.

But that's not because it was unexpected, far from it. The test has been anticipated since it was first announced that Colton would join the likes of Will, Pato O'Ward, Oliver Turvey and, as of this week, Alex Palou, as part of our testing programme.

Instead, the interest around Colton's test was based on his inexperience in F1 machinery. Even though the majority will be well-aware of his INDYCAR exploits - which include becoming the series' youngest ever race winner - no one knew how he would fare in an F1 car.

So how did he get on? And what was he testing exactly?

We met Colton and the team in Portimão to get the lowdown on what they were expecting from the TPC test and to follow their every move. Here’s what we learned…

Carrying a McLaren edition of his traditionally starry helmet design, the American was all smiles as he greeted us at the track with fist-bumps, before discussing testing plans for the next two days, suiting up in McLaren overalls and clambering into his papaya-coloured office.

Described by Senior Principal, Car Performance Engineer, Mark Temple as "very professional, very attentive and very responsive," Colton's work ethic impressed from the outset. Completing 162 laps and 749.7km over two days, Colton maximised his time on the tarmac, taking a "proactive approach" and making continuous progress throughout with his lap times and style of driving.

"He was very good at discussing what was going on with the car," Mark says. "The first area drivers usually take a little bit of time to learn is how much speed they can carry into the high-speed corners. Turn One at Portimao is quite fast and requires commitment – you really have to throw the car in, and so naturally, it took him quite a while to build up there.

"The other area was braking. Working out how late to brake and getting the balance between braking and steering right when going into the corners, so that you can carry as much speed as possible without hurting the exits. Those are areas where he progressed and built on during the test."

Confident and personable, Colton embraced the opportunity, spending a day on the McLaren Formula 1 simulator ahead of the test and shifting his physical training programme towards building the additional neck strength required for an F1 car.

"INDYCAR is more about upper body strength and not so much about the neck, whereas the F1 car is the opposite, with power steering and high g-forces," says Colton. "There is also a lot of data in F1 that we wouldn't get in INDYCAR, so there was more stuff to work through and more tools to work with.

"It was really good to dip my feet in with the sim beforehand and adjust to all of the switches and the speed of the car. It enabled me to understand some set-up changes, the balance and what to expect from the grip level and from the car beforehand."

The differences between F1 and INDYCAR are many, but one is the need for an INDYCAR to cope with sustained top speed on oval tracks, given that they race on both road and oval circuits, unlike F1, which only runs on road tracks.

F1's prioritisation of downforce and cornering speeds gives the cars an altogether different feel to INDYCAR. Neither of those really caught Colton out, but that's not to say there were no surprises.

"It was the braking and the acceleration that was the big step," Colton explains. "The amount of power in acceleration compared to the INDYCAR is quite high, especially in the higher gears. Even when the RPM (revolutions per minute) is low, it still pulls really hard, so it is really fast. It is a different car and requires a different driving style, but it was a lot of fun."

The programmes on the two days didn't differ hugely, with focus on carrying the learnings from day one to day two. On both Monday and Tuesday, Colton ran with high and low fuel loads to get a feel for the MCL35M in both qualifying and race conditions. In turn, this gave him an idea of how to manage the Pirellis and their general performance.

During this time, the team played around with set-up and balance to find what Colton was most comfortable with.

"I got a lot of different running in," Colton continues. "Learning the battery in hybrid cars was new to me, and that took a little bit of getting used to, but once that was out of the way, it felt pretty seamless because of how good the engineers are at getting you up to speed.

"It's not easy to drive [a Formula 1 car], but I feel like I made really big steps in these last two days. It was different from anything I have ever driven before, but it felt pretty seamless. It was amazing, I had a bunch of fun, and everybody was really cool and helpful."

Many of the on-track staff that we see in conversation with Colton, and with their noses in a screen, would normally be working at MTC, as opposed to at a track. TPC tests provide an opportunity for these staff to gain experience at the track.

"We've got engineers doing trackside roles that they wouldn't normally do," Mark says. "For example, we had Amelia [Lewis] trackside with the team. Amelia is a Specialist Performance Engineer, but her focus is generally on the simulator.

"For TPC tests, like this one, she can come to the track and apply what she knows in the simulator to a track environment. It was an excellent experience for her to work with the car physically.

"We have also got mechanics here who wouldn't normally be working with a Formula 1 car, and it is all taking place in an environment where there are more runs, and more time between runs.

"There isn't the same pressure of working through a really intense programme in a short space of time. They could spend more time looking at data and discussing things, thinking about what you do next."

Similarly, it allowed McLaren Development Driver Will the same opportunity and comparison outside of his usual simulator duties for the team.

"It’s been an amazing day with lots of positives and I loved every minute of it," added Will. "It was great to get out there and get a fresh understanding of how the car runs, and properly experience what the drivers feel to help with my usual role in the sim. Big thank you to McLaren for giving me the opportunity to get in one of these cars again!"

So, as well as helping to give drivers F1 experience, it helps to progress the people within our team.

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