Force India’s Sergio Perez put 82 more laps of mileage on the team’s VJM10 on the fourth and last day of pre-season testing.

The wet-to-dry session concluded a week of discovery  and development, and its overall result bodes well for the immediate future, according to the Mexican driver.

“We can be pleased with this last day of testing: we covered a lot of ground and we found some more performance. Hopefully next week we can be in  even better shape.

“It was a positive week and I think we made a good step forward with understanding the VJM10 and finding the limit of the tyres.

“I feel more confident in the car; I have learnt a huge amount and I think my preparation is going to plan. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I’m optimistic for Melbourne already.”

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Chief race engineer Tom Mccullough echoed his driver’s assessment.

“We have been able to build up good mileage and iron out some of the inevitable teething problems that you get with a new car.

“We are confident we have made some important steps forward in understanding the VJM10 and the new Pirelli tyres, and we are looking forward to next week’s test, when we will focus more on performance and race simulations.”

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