First test for VJM02 comes to a close
Adrian Sutil brought the Force India Formula One Team's debut VJM02 test to a close today in Jerez, Spain. Adrian completed 79 laps over the course of the day to bring the car's total mileage to date to just over 1,000km.
Clear conditions prevailed over Jerez and, despite gusty wind conditions in the afternoon, the team was able to run through the majority of its scheduled programme, which included set-up evaluations, tyre comparisons and a number of test items. Adrian's best time was a 1:21.411.
The team will now continue its pre-season testing preparations at the Circuit de Catalunya on the outskirts of Barcelona during a four day test from 9 - 12 March. Giancarlo Fisichella will be on duty on the first two days, with Adrian taking over for the final two.
Adrian Sutil: "This morning we had some good running with a lot of laps. We improved the balance of the car from yesterday and I was much happier. Right now we are just checking how the car reacts to different set-up changes. In the afternoon we then did quite a lot of tests with the tyres. We tried the soft, supersoft and medium compounds. On the long runs they behaved quite differently and the biggest problem was with the graining. It happens very quickly, then gets worse and the grip never comes back. We are talking big differences in lap times - I have never had such a big graining issue, but I can see nearly everyone is struggling with a similar problem. On the whole I am pleased with today though, we got a lot of very good information and can take this forward to Barcelona."
James Key, technical director: "We had a good end to the test today. Fortunately it stayed dry again so we were able to get a lot more information. We tried some different tyre compounds today, saw how they behaved and tried some set-up changes where we spotted some encouraging trends. Thanks to all the team for working so hard over the past few weeks to get the car together and have such a productive test. It has set us up well for the final test next week in Barcelona, where we hope to continue our strong progress so far."
