De la Rosa completes Paul Ricard test

The Spanish driver, who had not lapped the French circuit since 2006, managed a total of 315 laps - 1118 km - over the course of the test.

He tested both the soft and super-soft compound rubber, over short and long runs on the 3.551-kilometre configuration, and was impressed with the consistency of his lap times.

"These have been two of the most productive days of testing that we have seen yet, and I'm particularly encouraged by the consistency of the times that we managed to set on both the short and the long runs, demonstrating that the tyres are quick to reach a constant level of peak performance," said de la Rosa.

"There were a number of interesting solutions that we have started to investigate in depth. We enjoyed perfect reliability from the car and the tyres, which allowed us to cover more than a thousand kilometres and take some important steps forward in the development programme."

Pirelli will be testing at Paul Ricard again next week for two days.

Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery added: "Once more, Pedro's knowledge and feedback has given us some valuable information to finalise the second compound that we will bring to Abu Dhabi, as we finish our testing in Europe this month.

"Next week's test at Paul Ricard will enable us to complete our test programme on wet and intermediate tyres, taking advantage of the facilities available there."