Fisichella happy with seamless shift 'box

Fisichella was an impressive tenth fastest in the second session as the veteran Italian got to grips with Formula One's new Valencia street track.

"It's a pretty good track, nice to drive, although it was very dirty and slippery in the morning," said the Roman. "We had a very good second session with some quick times and made some strong progress on the setup.

"The seamless 'box is working well and we can push quite hard, but let's see what happens for tomorrow and qualifying."

Sutil had already showed signs of the team's improvement with the 13th fastest time in the morning session, but slipped to 17th in the second.

"In the afternoon it was better, but it was still quite dusty and once you got a little bit off line you got no grip at all," he said. "Everything was really as normal, with a standard programme with the tyres.

"We have some issues with graining as usual, but overall I am quite pleased with the day. The seamless shift is a very good step and I was happy with the progress."

The team's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne concluded: "Although it's hard to tell from Friday form, I think we look more competitive and have made a slight step forward that we'll look to carry over to the rest of the weekend."