Sutil steps up pace in Formula One testing

JEREZ - In warm and dry weather for a change, Adrian Sutil of Force India put in 69 laps and posted the seventh quickest time of 1 minute, 21.939 seconds on the penultimate day of the Formula One team test programme.

Sutil took over the VJM03 in hugely improved weather conditions Friday and worked through a programme of long and short runs, weight distribution and race preparation.

“Today was our first proper shot at dry running this test and it went pretty well. In the morning we did a few short runs and some set-up work and then in the afternoon moved on to longer runs and getting more information on the new tyres.

“At the end of the day we wanted to do a further run but unfortunately a red flag came out so we didn’t do as many laps as we would have liked over the whole day. The tyres at the moment are quite difficult to handle as the soft compound grains up very quickly in the low temperatures.

“The mediums last a bit longer but still grain after 10 or 12 laps. There’s no way to avoid it at the moment but I’m not too concerned as I am sure they will handle better in the higher temperatures we’ll see in the races,” Sutil said.

Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing topped the time charts with a 1:19.299 over 115 laps, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) who clocked 1:20.115 (132 laps) while world champion Jenson Button of McLaren-Mercedes was third in 1:20.394 (101 laps).