Force India upbeat after first test at Jerez

An upbeat mood prevailed in the Force India Formula One team after their first testing of the eagerly awaited new VJM02 engine-driven car here with principal driver Griancarlo Fisichella feeling positive for a better show with his "completely-changed" machine this season.

"I am quite surprised and happy about what I felt with the behavior of the car. It's very promising and I felt much more consistency, even under breaking, and more stability in the high-speed corners," Fisichella said.

A fuel system problem, however, limited his first feel of the car to 31 laps only out of which he clocked the best lap time of 1 min 21.584, best sixth time out of eight teams tested on Sunday.

The Italian finished sixth in order in the eight-team race under overcast conditions which also saw frequent red flags to finish at the 4.428 km long Jerez de La Frontane circuit.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel came first 1 min 19.055 best lap time besides running the maximum laps of 87. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was second with best lap time of 1:20.330 while Toyota test driver Kumui Kobayashi was third fastest 1:20.69.

Nico Rosberg (1:21.171) of Williams and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica (1:21.292) rounded out the top-five.

Fisichella, though positive about the second season in the new car, said he wished there some more testings.

"We need to improve the traction a bit and also the oversteering after a few laps, but this is a problem others have had as well. The lap time is good and I am quite pleased as we did it with one set of new tyres and I know I can do much better than this," he added.

"It is a bit frustrating as we could only do 31 laps today, especially as it is very important to try and get as many as possible as we are already late compared to the other teams. We are not that far away from the other people so I am looking forward to more testing where we can try to improve the car a little bit and concentrate on reliability.

"The fuel problem lingered on today also when Fisichella tested under pouring rain but team marketing coordinator Mick Gomme was hopeful the issue will be fixed here itself."

"It was a small problem. Our engineers are looking to it and expecting to fix here itself," he said.

Second driver Adrian Sutil was also upbeat about testing the new car though his turn will come on Tuesday.

"I had spoken to Fisi after the test and he felt positive about the car. I can’t say much since I have not tested but the team is positive of doing better this year," he said. 

Force India will have another testing in Barcelona next week before the first Grand Prux race starts in Melbourne from March 29.

Fisichella was echoing team-owner Vijay Mallya’s views to improve upon the team’s position which finished at the bottom last year.

"To be brutally honest, I would not be happy if we didn't show some much improved, and much needed, performance," Mallya said.

"What we really set out to do over the winter was to put in place structures, procedures and partnerships that would give improvement, but crucially, no excuses."

"I would like to see a strong start, rising to points mid-season and a definite improvement in qualifying. Regular points finishes should be the aim."

"Force India switched from a Ferrari engine to Mercedes for this season. It has been making adjustments of the car in the off-season besides the many changes in regulations for the season ahead. Along with rule changes to aerodynamics which forced all teams to redesign their chassis, this season will see the return of slick tires and the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS).

KERS converts the energy created in braking, stores it, and allows it to be used intermittently to provide a power boost when required.

"Besides the new VJM02 engine from Mercedez and gearbox by McLaren, the chasis, the whole body of the car, the aerodynamics and suspension system have been changed. The right wing is now narrower and and taller while the front wing is much wider though of the same height as last year. The nose is also different with a straight one this time," Gomme said.

But Gomme said the team might not use the KERS for the first few races possibly till the Grand Prix in Barcelona (fifth GP in the F1 calendar).

"We are not going to test the KERS here or at Barcelona and so we are using the system in the first two GP races. May be at Bracelona we may use the system but we have not decided," he said.