Fisi pushes further up Jerez timesheets

Fisi emerging from pits
By Karl King
February 15 2008

Giancarlo Fisichella was on hand to test for Force in Jerez on Thursday, setting the 11th fastest time of the 16 drivers present. Working on gearbox and electronic development and set-up, the Italian completed 86 laps of the Spanish circuit in dry conditions with sunny periods. The fastest time of the day was set by Heikki Kovalainen, a 1m17.974.

Fisichella's fastest lap was a 1m20.669, 2.695s slower than the leading pace of the McLaren. Slower than Fisi were Britons Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson, young drivers Nico Hulkenburg and Lucas di Grassi for Williams and Renault respectively, and completing the timesheets, Honda's Alex Wurz, almost a second slower than Fisichella.

Fisichella was optimistic, 'Today was a good day. We were able to put in a lot of laps without any major problems and I felt more comfortable in the car.

'We worked through a programme of set-up and some development items and even with a reasonable fuel load we were still able to put in some competitive times.

'I'm looking forward to the next test when we will have some more new items on the VJM01 and we'll have a more representative indication of where we are.'

The next test is 25-27 February where the car that will race in Australia will be present.