Barcelona Test - Day one
TONIO OPENS THREE-DAY BARCELONA TEST FOR FORCE INDIA
Tonio Liuzzi today completed testing duties for the Force
India Formula One Team on the first day of its three-day test
at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spain. After three long haul
races kicked off the season, today was the first time the
team had tested at a European track since February this year,
when the VJM01 made its track debut.
This time out, teams were once again able to test the ungrooved
'slick' 2009 tyres in preparation for their reintroduction
next year, but were also able to try the proposed 2009 aerodynamics
package. Tonio focussed on establishing a strong baseline
set-up with the 2008 aero package and tyres in the morning
before moving over to compare the runs with the 2009 slicks
and wings in the afternoon. Throughout the day the car ran
reliably, with Tonio completing 91 laps in total.
Giancarlo Fisichella will take over the wheel for the second
day of testing, with Adrian Sutil finishing the test on Wednesday.
Team quotes
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
'Today was a useful opening day, with no real mechanical problems.
In the morning we used the standard 2008 VJM01 with the 2008
grooved tyres to establish a baseline set-up, but in the afternoon
we moved to the 2009 downforce level and tyres. We obtained
some useful information on their respective performance, and
after a basic warm-up, the tyres behaved better than we expected.
On longer runs there is some drop off with the 2009 tyres
and there is still some work to do. We will continue tomorrow
with a similar programme with Giancarlo and hope to push on
with the solid work we put in today.'
Tonio Liuzzi
'Today was a good day of testing with quite a few kilometres
and no real mechanical issues. The car was good from start
to finish and responded well to the changes we made. It has
improved a lot from the last time I drove it in February,
which shows the steps forward the team has made in the first
three races. In the morning we tested the 2008 configuration
and then the 2009 aero package in the afternoon. It was difficult
to drive as there is much less downforce, but I think Bridgestone
has done a good job with the tyres as they performed very
strongly over one lap. On longer runs it was not quite as
good, but there is still a lot of time to get it right. I
was pretty happy with the work we have done for both 2008
and 2009. It looks promising.'
Testing data
Driver: Tonio Liuzzi
Track: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Best lap time: 1min 22.846
Laps completed: 91
Kilometres completed 424km
Air temperature: High of 19ºC
Track temperature: High of 34ºC
Weather: Sunny most of the day, scattered cloud and showers
late afternoon
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