Alfonso Celis Jr completed 75 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya as he completed his second day of running in the Sahara Force India VJM09 on the final day of the first pre-season test.
The test driver for the Silverstone-based team returned to the car on Thursday after participating in the opening day’s proceedings on Monday and felt the whole week has been a big learning experience for him as he adapts to life as a F1 reserve driver.
“It’s been another busy day with lots of aero and procedural work,” said Celis Jr, who finished third fastest with a time of 1m24.840s, 1.363s back on the pace of Kimi Raikkonen. “Once again the car has shown great reliability and we managed to keep to the run plan without any significant issues.
“In the morning I was running mainly on the medium tyres and then moved to the softs in the afternoon.
“Each day in the car is a massive learning experience for me and I feel more comfortable with each run. I’ve also been able to get to know the engineers better this week, which is very important for the work I will do for the rest of the season.”
