2008 Spanish Grand Prix Free Practice Report
Adrian Sutil (car 20, VJM01/02):
FP1: 16th 1:23.156 (22 laps)
FP2: 10th 1:22.548 (38 laps)
Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21, VJM01/05):
FP1: 17th 1:23.196 (20 laps)
FP2: 9th 1:22.383 (38 laps)
Fresh from a successful three-day test at the circuit last
week, the Force India Formula One Team again showed well at
the Circuit de Catalunya in today's opening practice sessions
for the Spanish Grand Prix. Both VJM01 cars featured strongly
throughout the two one and a half hour sessions, with Giancarlo
Fisichella and Adrian Sutil both finishing the second practice
in the top ten.
In the opening practice the duo focussed on longer runs with
the harder tyre option available this weekend before moving
on to fine-tune the Qualifying set-up in the afternoon. Despite
the typical Barcelona changeable weather conditions that saw
the wind picking up over the day, Giancarlo and Adrian's first
runs in the second session were enough to put them first and
second on the time sheets for the first 30 minutes. The pair
then moved to concentrate on longer runs and eventually finished
the session with ninth and tenth fastest laps.
After a final practice tomorrow, Qualifying will start at
14:00hrs local time, in which the team is hopeful of getting
to Q2 for the first time since 2006.
Adrian Sutil (car 20)
'Today was not bad. I think we started quite well, although
the track conditions were very different to testing. We just
lost a lot of grip from last week so this morning was OK,
but this afternoon was even better. We put on some new tyres
and did some new tyre runs in the second session and the balance
was very good. I was quite happy, but then later on the wind
increased and although the longer runs were not bad, I was
not happy with the balance. On the last run of the day it
was not as I expected: the wind just changed and I couldn't
really react to it so the last runs could have been better
for sure, but overall it was an improvement over the last
three races. Step by step we are getting better.'
Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)
'The car balance in the afternoon was especially good. In
the morning we had a lot of understeer, but there was a big
difference between today and the test. Today there was in
general much less grip, more understeer and wheelspin, so
this morning I was struggling a little bit. In the afternoon
I was happier and we went in the right direction. It's too
early to say definitively but it doesn't look too bad.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
'Another productive day for us with no major mechanical issues
on the car. The circuit had a lot less grip than the test
last week as we expected, but we worked through our programme
of evaluating both sets of tyres and set-up work. Conditions
in the second session were quite tricky as the wind got up
and the track temperature increased, but overall I think we
are a lot more competitive than we expected to be, so we should
look to have a very strong weekend.'
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