A good baseline declares di Grassi

It was a largely frustrating week for the new Virgin Racing team with wing problems and weather conditions limiting their programme at Jerez. Lucas di Grassi was however happy to achieve some more encouraging mileage on the final day of the tests.

“Today finally with the weather and with everything in place, we were able to do some running and have a baseline to start work for the next test,” the Brazilian told Autosport following the conclusion of yesterday’s test programme.

The first three days of the test saw the team complete just 24 laps, but on Saturday di Grassi put in 63 laps, recording the ninth fastest time, 3.3 seconds off the pace set by 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton.

“I don’t think we are the lightest car on the sheet and we are not the heaviest,” di Grassi continued. “The last two years I’ve driven an F1 car for two and a half days, so I need to improve my driving, get more used to this new car - it has different feedback to what I was used to - and the same for the car, there’s a lot of room for improvement in every aspect of the car. But as a baseline now we can start working on each of these aspects.”

The team will be back on track this coming Wednesday alongside fellow new-comers Lotus Racing.