Force India have reported more problems with heating up the Bridgestone tyres during the second day of testing at Paul Ricard.
The Anglo-Indian outfit focussed on tyre testing and aerodynamic set-up at Le Castelett in damp conditions and low temperatures; a similar backdrop to that of the Turkish Grand Prix last week.
Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella tested the soft and super soft tyre compounds which Bridgestone will bring to the Monaco Grand Prix next week. Both drivers reported significant graining which although not as severe as that experienced in Turkey, nevertheless hampered the VJM01 s single lap pace.
“We tried the tyre options available for the race and again with the softer tyre we struggled to get the temperature into them on the first lap,†commented Sutil.
“There is some bad graining and it s not easy to drive, but we have managed to work with them better than we did in Turkey.â€
Giancarlo Fisichella in the sister VJM01 experienced similar problems but expressed greater confidence that the problem could be mitigated.
“We had some problems with understeer and tyre graining at some points, but this also happens during the race too, so we could prepare for it,†reflected the Italian.
“We didn t have any major problems and could put a lot of mileage on the parts for next week, so it looks good.â€
Low track temperatures and damp conditions plagued the teams up and down the paddock in Istanbul with the teams and drivers struggling to bring their tyres up to temperature at the beginning of the runs.
It is not yet known if the other teams testing at Paul Ricard, including Ferrari and McLaren, have experienced similar problems to that of Force India.
The Paul Ricard circuit is generally better suited to the hard compound tyres but teams have been testing the softs ahead of Monaco. The the test track will be switched to its long configuration tomorrow to replicate the characteristics of Montreal.
