Force India's three-day testing at the Circuit de Catalunya got off to a hiccup-free start with Tonio Liuzzi putting to trial their 'slick' 2009 tyres and the new proposed aerodynamics package.
After three long haul races kicked-off the season, Monday day was the first time the team tested at a European track since VJM01's debut in February this year.
The team tested the ungrooved 'slick' 2009 tyres in preparation for their reintroduction next year.
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 with the best lap-time of 1min 22.846.
"Today was a good day of testing with quite a few kilometers and no real mechanical issues. The car was good from start to finish and responded well to the changes we made. In the morning we tested the 2008 configuration and then the 2009 aero package in the afternoon," Liuzzi said.
"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. I was pretty happy with the work we have done for both 2008 and 2009. It looks promising," Liuzzi added.
Team's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne said there was still some work to do on 2009 tyres.
"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," he said.
"On longer runs there is some drop off with the 2009 tyres and there is still some work to do," he added.
Giancarlo Fisichella will take over the wheel for the second day of testing, with Adrian Sutil finishing the test tomorrow.
