Force India blamed a number of reliability issues for a second day of limited running at the Mugello test.
Wet weather restricted test driver Jules Bianchi to 19 laps on Tuesday before suspected problems with the car's hydraulics limited Paul di Resta to just 14 laps in the dry on Wednesday. Di Resta finally set a lap time with four minutes of the afternoon session remaining, giving the team some crucial data to analyse its latest updates, which include a new McLaren-style exhaust system.
"We had a few issues today which kept us in the garage and meant that we couldn't get through much of our programme," di Resta said. "The guys spent a lot of time changing things on the car just before lunch and I only managed to get back out for a final run at the end of the day. You always want more laps, but these things can happen and hopefully we can have a full day of running tomorrow to get through our programme and learn what we need to learn."
Chief engineer Jakob Andreasen explained that the team changed the hydraulics as a precaution as well as the engine during the day.
"It's never nice to spend so much time sitting in the garage, but we had a few reliability concerns that we needed to resolve before we continued running," he said. "We suspected the issue was related to the hydraulic system of the car so changed that as a precaution. At the same time we chose to make the most of the downtime by bringing forward the engine change, which had been planned for the end of the session. It has been a tough day for the guys in the garage, but they did a great job to get the car out for the final half hour and give Paul the chance to complete a handful of laps in preparation for tomorrow.
Di Resta will share the final day with team-mate Nico Hulkenberg to make up for the lack of running.
"Due to the lack of running for Paul, he will now stay on for half a day tomorrow, before Nico takes over in the afternoon," Andreasen added.
Source: en.espnf1.com
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