Technical issues for Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella today continued the Force India Formula One Team's first official test at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit. The Italian completed a total of 54 laps to add more mileage to the debutant VJM02 car, recording an encouraging 1:31.547 - the fourth quickest lap and just six tenths slower than the quickest time of the day.
Despite the recurrent rain showers and red flags, Giancarlo was able to accumulate further crucial data and evaluate both the Bridgestone extreme wet and standard wet tyres. Unfortunately however the team's running was interrupted by a fuel system problem mid-morning, but the VJM02 returned to the track for further laps at the end of the day.
Adrian Sutil will take over driving duties tomorrow and will remain in the car for the final day of testing on Wednesday.
Giancarlo Fisichella: "Considering the amount of laps we did today, it is quite encouraging again. It is a reasonable time, six tenths off the fastest, so I am quite pleased. Unfortunately we had a problem with the fuel pressure again and didn't run enough. Then I was struggling a little bit to find the right set up with the full wet tyres but then at the end of the day the circuit was getting better and, as with several other people, we tried the standard wet and I felt much more comfortable with the balance. Hopefully tomorrow Adrian can do more laps and make sure we are fully ready for Barcelona."
James Key, technical director: "Again, difficult weather and we missed some of the better conditions in the morning as we had a few technical issues. It was the same problem with the fuel system, but we found a solution from mid morning onwards that allowed us to do some more running. Other than this problem the car has been very good and we ran through a programme of systems checks and balance comparisons between the extreme and the standard wet tyres. We're confident we're on top of the issues now and can get on with the programme tomorrow, where we will look at some more set up options."
