Fisichella optimistic after practice

The Italian was 14th-quickest in the afternoon, improving on his morning time by 0.8 seconds.

"This morning I was really struggling with the balance and with the grip on the circuit, but then we made a few changes on the car and it felt much better, much more consistent," Fisichella said.

"So I think it was a good afternoon, it was definitely a step forward in the second session."

But despite his optimism about the car's performance, Fisichella is set for a difficult qualifying tomorrow as he will receive a three-place grid penalty for leaving the pit lane while the red light was still on at the start of first practice.

Adrian Sutil was slowest of all in the second Force India after a clutch problem ended his session early.

The team's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne was cautiously optimistic about Force India's potential at Istanbul Park following Fisichella's improvement.

"A reasonably productive day but with a couple of difficulties," Gascoyne said. "As expected, we struggled with the relatively low grip of the circuit and found it difficult to get the tyres working correctly.

"With Adrian we had a clutch problem in the afternoon session that curtailed his running, but Giancarlo completed his planned programme.

"Over the longer runs he was very consistent and competitive, but we know there is still more to come from both drivers tomorrow."