Esteban Gutierrez says he wants to improve consistency on second day of testing

The Sauber reserve driver, who last drove for the team in the rookie test at the same venue exactly one year ago, ended up sixth fastest today.

He set a time 3.449s off the pace, but is not concerned about his outright pace.

"To be more consistent, to bring the car home safely and to give the best feedback to the team," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT what his personal aims are for his second day in the car.

"I'm not here to be the quickest. I'm here for the experience, to get the most out of the opportunity. For the test programme, it's important to set consistent laptimes.

"In testing you have to be very clever. If you want a good comparison of what you are testing, you need to be consistent in what you do and maybe you will not optimise the laptime.

"But it's most important to be consistent and give the right feedback. If I push too much to find the limit then I could make mistakes and I will not know what to say to the team."

Despite aiming to improve tomorrow, the Mexican was happy with his performance on his first day back in the car.

This is despite the challenge presented by his three days of testing F1 machinery being spread over a two-year period.

"I'm really happy," he said. "I was able to get a good feeling for the car and the things that we tested.

"With time I will improve more. We have to be realistic because it's only my third time in F1 with long gaps in between. If in the future I get to drive more often, then I will see some improvement and work to be on the limit in every aspect."