Vitantonio Liuzzi completed 102 laps without any hiccup as Force India ran its new seamless shift gearbox for the first time on day one of its three-day test at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Jerez.
Three days after its double finish in the German Grand Prix, the outfit was in action again with reserve driver Liuzzi behind the wheel.
Liuzzi also pushed on with a programme of suspension work, aero testing and reliability runs in the afternoon with no mechanical issues and clear weather throughout the day.
Liuzzi, who completed 102 laps with a best time of 1min 20.577, said, "Today was a good day, especially considering I had not been in the car for a month. I got back into the rhythm very easily and we did some very productive work today.
"The main issue was to complete a lot of laps to test the new gearbox and other new items, and without any issues we could complete the programme. The gearbox was reliable and the lap time was definitely improved as a result.
"It feels like we have made a step forward and the lap times weren't bad, especially considering other teams were testing the slick tyres and different aero packages here," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"It feels like we have made a step forward and the lap times weren't bad, especially considering other teams were testing the slick tyres and different aero packages here," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Giancarlo Fisichella will be bringing the test to a close on Friday.