Sato encouraged by practice form

The Japanese driver posted the 10th quickest time of the afternoon session after having finished in 11th in the morning.

Sato admitted there is still work to do extract the car's full potential, but he was nonetheless pleased with his day's work.

"It was an encouraging day," said Sato. "At the beginning we struggled a lot with grip and tyre behaviour as the track was green and dusty, so it was difficult to get a good lead from the car because it was sliding a lot.

"The track improved quickly so by the end of the first session we had a good idea of which way we should go on car set-up.

"In the afternoon we built up our programme step by step and by the end of the session I believe we were in a comfortable position. However, we still have quite a lot of work to do overnight and hopefully the weather and track conditions remain the same for tomorrow."

Teammate Anthony Davidson also enjoyed a satisfying day after finishing in the top ten in the morning, when the track conditions were far from ideal.

In the second session, the Briton posted the 15th fastest time.

"So it was an interesting day with the track changing dramatically from the first session to where we ended up this afternoon," he said. "The track was very dusty to begin with and everyone was struggling for grip.

"We found a good balance in the car from early on and just waited for the track to come to us, which it did towards the end of the first session and in session two. Overall, I'm very happy with today's work."