F1 young driver test: Adrian Sutil sets early pace on final day
Adrian Sutil put Force India back on top of the timesheets on the final morning of the young driver test at Silverstone
The Silverstone-based squad had topped the first morning with rookie James Calado and Sutil knocked Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne off top spot in the second hour of running today by two tenths of a second.
Vergne ended the morning's running third fastest after being eclipsed by Felipe Massa in the third hour, with the top three all race rather than rookie pilots thanks to the introduction of the new-specification Pirelli rubber in this test.
Carlos Sainz Jr was fourth fastest on his first appearance for Red Bull having driven for Toro Rosso yesterday, ending up a quarter-of-a-second faster than Lotus development driver Nicolas Prost, who is having a second day of running after plans to run Kimi Raikkonen today were dropped.
Caterham has opted to run both of its race drivers today, with Giedo van der Garde driving this morning, ending up sixth fastest, and Charles Pic taking over this afternoon.
Auto GP championship contender Kimya Sato made his debut for Sauber, setting the seventh fastest time ahead of Williams development driver Susie Wolff, having her first run on a circuit in the team's 2013 car.
Wolff focused on aerodynamic work this morning.
McLaren's Gary Paffett was able to complete only six laps before he was forced to stop with an engine problem.
The team expects to get the car back out on track this afternoon.
Marussia reserve driver Rodolfo Gonzalez also lost track time when he spun at the run out of The Loop into Aintree corner and had to be recovered after completing 21 laps. He returned to action before midday.
World champion Sebastian Vettel is scheduled to take over the Red Bull this afternoon, with Davide Rigon replacing Massa in the Ferrari.
Toro Rosso will give Daniil Kvyat his first run this afternoon, while Marussia race driver Jules Bianchi takes the Marussia from Gonzalez.
Times at 12.15pm:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps 1. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m33.421s 29 2. Carlos Sainz Jr Red Bull-Renault 1m33.546s +0.125s 35 3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.624s +0.203s 49 4. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.647s +0.226s 16 5. Nicolas Prost Lotus-Renault 1m33.876s +0.455s 31 6. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m35.155s +1.734s 54 7. Kimiya Sato Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.642s +2.221s 33 8. Susie Wolff Williams-Renault 1m35.704s +2.283s 31 9. Gary Paffett McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.284s +2.863s 6 10. Rodolfo Gonzalez Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.339s +2.918s 24
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About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Drivers | Adrian Sutil |
| Author | Edd Straw |
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