Force India Jerez test, day 3 report

Di Resta get first run in VJM04 in testing at Jerez

12 February 2011 - Paul di Resta got his first-ever run in the VJM04 today as the Force India F1 Team continued its preparations ahead of the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship season. Picking up from Adrian Sutil's programme yesterday, Paul concentrated on tyre evaluation and establishing baseline set-ups for the remainder of the testing programme.

Paul completed 64 laps in total, bringing the VJM04 total mileage to almost 700km since its debut on Thursday.

Paul di Resta
Today was really about me getting used to the new car, plus getting as much information about the new tyres and set-up options as possible. We've still got a bit of work to do, but today was about determining the right way to go. We did find that there were a couple of issues with getting temperature in the brakes on some set-ups, and on the final run of the day I locked up into turn nine and went off into the gravel. Overall I think we can be fairly positive with the progress we've made over the past couple of days and have a good idea of where we can go tomorrow.

Dominic Harlow, circuit engineering director
Today was Paul's first opportunity to drive the VJM04 so was very much about acclimatisation to the car and looking at various set-up options. We continued to learn about the car, and found some good and some bad directions. Unfortunately Paul locked the brakes at T9 on his final outing and had a small spin. There wasn't any damage but with another red flag almost immediately afterwards there wasn't time to continue so we missed a few laps. Tomorrow Paul will conclude the test, taking the opportunity to try the DRS [drag reduction system] rear wing in simulated race mode during the morning and further set-up work planned for the afternoon.

Testing data
Driver: Paul di Resta
Track: Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Best lap time: 1:22.945
Laps completed: 64
Kilometres completed: 239km
Air temperature: High of 23 C
Track temperature: High of 30 C
Weather: Bright and sunny