Force India's lap times improve thanks to new gearbox

Just three days after its double finish in the German Grand Prix, the Force India Formula One Team was out in action again on the first day of its three-day test at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in southern Spain.

Test and reserve driver Vitantonio Liuzzi was on duty as the team ran its new seamless shift gearbox for the first time following a shakedown last week at Silverstone. Tonio also pushed on with a programme of suspension work, aero testing and reliability runs in the afternoon. With no mechanical issues and clear weather throughout the day, the team completed over 100 laps with a best time of 1min 20.577.

Tonio will testing continue tomorrow, with Giancarlo Fisichella bringing the test to a close on Friday.

Dominic Harlow, chief race and test engineer: "Today was a very productive start to the test with over a hundred laps without any mechanical issues, which was very positive considering we were running the seamless shift box for the first time at a circuit test. Tonio also completed some work on the new aero package raced in Hockenheim and the suspension updates. In the afternoon we did some longer runs to complete some work on reliability and overall it was a very encouraging start to the test. Tomorrow we will continue with Tonio, when we will push on with the seamless shift testing and also do some work with the slick Bridgestone tyres that will be introduced in 2009."

Tonio Liuzzi: "Today was a good day, especially considering I had not been in the car for a month. I got back into the rhythm very easily and we did some very productive work today. The main issue was to complete a lot of laps to test the new gearbox and other new items, and without any issues we could complete the programme. The gearbox was reliable and the lap time was definitely improved as a result. I also worked on the suspension set-up with the inertia damper, which I hadn't tested before, and the results were pretty positive. It feels like we have made a step forward and the lap times weren't bad, especially considering other teams were testing the slick tyres and different aero packages here. I'm looking forward to more tomorrow and making sure the car works well in Hungary."