Di Resta confident of bouncing back after slow start in Singapore GP practice

The Scot managed only 13 laps during first practice and a further eight in the afternoon. Only seven of those were timed laps, leaving him short of running on his first visit to the track.

"If anywhere was crucial to get laps, it is around here," said di Resta. "But in Monaco, I lost FP2 with a gearbox problem and still qualified in front of Adrian [Sutil].

"It's not going to be an easy task, but you have to deal with these situations. The guys worked hard try and get the car out in time so big credit to them for doing that in this heat."

With team-mate Sutil ending the session seventh fastest, there is reason for Force India to be optimistic despite di Resta's problems.

Despite completing so few laps, di Resta was happy with the balance of the car and prime tyres and at least had the chance to familiarise himself with the track.

"In general, our performance isn't too bad," said di Resta. "We've shown strongly for how limited the time I've had here is. Adrian showed the car pace, but I can't say much more than that.

"I have no tyre wear data and no idea of the balance for the start of the race. I've just got to go with the baseline setup tomorrow morning.

"I've got an idea of the track. It's very technical and there's a lot to it. It's about building confidence as, like Monaco, there's not much room for error and you have to get close tot he walls to get the maximum from the car."

The lack of running for di Resta has also hit the teams testing programme for the weekend, as the two cars were running in slightly different specifications in order to gather comparative data.