Paul Di Resta shines on first outing for Force India

BATHGATE'S Paul Di Resta impressed on his first official outing as reserve and test driver for the Force India team, but the 23- year-old Scot's performance was handicapped by heavy rain which swept across the Jerez circuit.

"Yeah, it wasn't ideal," said Di Resta, after finishing eighth-quickest, immediately behind the team's No 1 driver Adrian Sutil and the Mercedes of sixth-fastest man Michael Schumacher, "But the car felt pretty good. We all came to Spain expecting sunshine and warmth, instead we got cold and rain. Just like being at home really. The objective was to get as much running as possible and we managed over 300km, which was a great effort, given the weather."

Di Resta fired his car's Mercedes engine up and rolled his Force India VJM03 out of the team's garage just five minutes after the track opened, quickly showing his pace by lapping the damp 2.751-miles track in 1min 33secs.

The Scot continued to improve and at one time was fifth fastest before he spun his car 180 degrees in a sudden downpour which affected parts of the track. But after returning to the garage, then completing another lap to check the car's systems, Di Resta went out and posted his fastest lap, a 1:25.088s.

"Everything was working well," he continued. "I was managing to get quicker in the car as I become more comfortable with it and the conditions. But then the rain came again and that essentially scuppered any chances I had of improving my time. Having said that, the programme I was following today in terms of developing the car wasn't about maximising our speed. We were testing and evaluating a number of different aspects of the car. We achieved what we set out to achieve.

"Even with this type of weather, though, I could get an impression of the car. It seems stable and good all round, a genuine improvement on the one I drove last year. I'll be back in it in Barcelona next week and am looking forward to it."

Di Resta completed a total of 74 laps during the day, much of which was spent gathering data on the car when it was running with heavier fuel loads than the other cars on the track.

Ironically, shortly after Di Resta had handed the car over to his German team-mate Sutil midway through the afternoon, the sun came out and the circuit dried, allowing those still on the track to bring their times down.

While Sutil eventually managed to lap 0.816s faster than the Scot, it was Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel who topped the timesheets with a best time of 1:22.593s, 0.424s ahead of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, who was 0.187s quicker than Felipe Massa's Ferrari.