Force India pleased with seamless shift run

The new gearbox was tested already at Jerez last week and both Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil used it during today's sessions.

Tomorrow, however, the team will go back to using the old gearbox, as they feel it needs more work before it's ready.

"It was good to use the seamless shift box on both cars today and we ran without any problems," said technical chief Mike Gascoyne. "We also ran some updated parts for the high downforce configuration and didn't have any mechanical issues, we are just trying to understand the tyres.

"Obviously the track evolves throughout the day and the event, and was very dirty to start with, which caused a lot of graining on the tyres. Overall we got through our whole programme of work and I think we can have a good weekend.

"For tomorrow we'll be reverting back to the standard gearbox configuration as it's the fourth race of this box's cycle but we'll be using the seamless shift in Valencia."

Fisichella, 17th fastest, said the new gearbox was a step forward, although he was sorry he will be not using it tomorrow or in the race.

"The upshift is better with the new gearbox and obviously a good step forward, but unfortunately for us we are not going to use it tomorrow and Sunday," he said. "We are struggling with the grip level at the moment as there is a lot of inconsistency and the balance is not quite there.

"Over the day the track conditions did improve a lot and the last 10 to 15 minutes of the second session were much better. Let's see for tomorrow and how it improves again as we use it more."