Monteiro encouraged after practice

Monteiro, whose team are yet to score a point this season, finished as 19th fastest after a productive day of work with his MF16 car.

And although the MF1 driver is refusing to get carried away, he is optimistic of a good weekend.

"We had a lot of work planned for today and we managed to get through it all without any issues," said Monteiro.

"We solved our problems pretty early on, so that allowed us to focus on improving the car in the second session. The team did a fantastic job - the more I drove, the better the car felt.

"I like this kind of track, so I felt confident right away and was able to push hard. We know where our weak points are, so we're going to work on that tonight. But obviously, compared to our opponents, today was a pretty good day.

"It's still too early to get overly excited about the times, but it's good to know we're making progress with the car's pace and that we know how to get even more out of it."

Teammate Christijan Albers shared Monteiro's enthusiasm despite finishing down in 24th position.

"I have to say we had a really good day today," he said. "The first session went really well, and the second session had a promising start on the same set of tyres. Then, when we changed to a new set of tyres that just didn't suit me, I had a lot of problems with understeer and raising the temperature.

"I also had a little spin near the end of the session, which was a shame, because that spoiled what was otherwise a very productive day. But we'll be all right tomorrow. I'm sure we'll find a solution and make the right tyre choices."