Jerez, Spain: Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Paul completed his time this week in the Sahara Force India VJM05 when he covered 69 laps in the afternoon session at Jerez. Paul took over after the team's reserve driver, Frenchman Jules Bianchi, got his first experience of the car in the morning.
In demanding, windy conditions, Paul covered 306kms as he continued to evaluate and bed-in the car: his fastest lap was 1min 20.272secs.
“I had half a day in the car today, but it was quite intense: 69 laps in just over three hours, which is a really good effort.
"But it was also one of the more difficult days because the wind seemed to get very strong from midday onwards, which made driving the car very tricky.
"However, we managed to get a clear direction on a couple of set-up changes, so that’s given us an indication of the areas we should explore over the coming weeks.
"After 101 laps yesterday and 115 today, we’ve clearly built a good, strong car, but now it’s about getting into the detail, going over the data and getting ready for Barcelona.”
Paul