Force India report from day three of the second preseason test at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, ahead of the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship.
Sergio Perez: “I am happy to finish my pre-season on a positive note because it’s been a busy day with lots of laps covered. We have been preparing well for Melbourne and we have probably achieved more than we expected today. We focussed a lot on race pace during our long runs and we have plenty of data to go through with the engineers. The conditions weren’t perfect because it was quite cool and windy, but we still got what we needed from the day. We were able to try all systems and practice all the start procedures. I hope we have done enough to start the season strongly and I am confident the upgrades we are bringing to Melbourne will help us. Now I can enjoy a few final days of preparation at home and then it’s time for Melbourne. I am not the biggest fan of pre-season testing so I can’t wait to go racing.”
Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer, “Sergio’s last day in the car before Melbourne was a largely productive one, completing lots of laps. We continued our work on the car’s set-up and ticked off some more test items, as well as running the softer compounds of the tyre range. The track temperature was cooler than in previous days and this is not very representative of what we will see in the first few races of the season, but we were able to gather a lot of useful data nonetheless. We did some long runs in the afternoon and also carried out practice pit-stops with the crew alongside other race weekend procedures. There’s still work to do with the car but we’re definitely making progress in understanding the VJM11. Our final day of testing tomorrow will see a similar programme for Esteban as we complete our preparations for the start of the season.”