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The Force India VJM10's striking pink livery made its debut in Albert Park on Friday for the first practice sessions of 2017. The team was able to make a "routine start" to the year, with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon completing 124 laps between them, although both drivers recognise there are still improvements to be found.
Perez finished FP1 in 10th, with a 1:26.276, and FP2 in 11th, having improved to a 1:25.591. The Mexican was evidently satisfied with his performance and the distance he was able to cover.
"It's always important to start the year with a trouble-free day and cover lots of miles. As usual in Melbourne, the track was very green during the first session and evolved quite a lot for the second session.
"We tried pretty much all the tyre compounds and we have the data we need to make improvements tonight. I think there are a few areas where we can find performance and we know where we need to focus our energy."
Perez's new team-mate Ocon had a somewhat more difficult time in the morning, before his troubles were resolved and he got back up to speed for the afternoon session, advancing from P16 in the first on a 1:27.656 to P13 in the second on a 1:26.145.
Whilst Ocon echoed Perez's comments about finding improvements, he is positive ahead of FP3 in the hope that he can be faster for qualifying.
"I didn't have the best start to the day with a brake issue causing a delayed start to my running, but the afternoon was easier and I managed to find a better rhythm," he reported afterwards. "The priority tonight is the usual job of exploring where we need to make changes, where we can find some gains and where I can improve too. Hopefully we can make a step forward during final practice to be ready for qualifying."
Reviewing the day following the end of track action, Deputy Team Principal Robert Fernley said: "As Fridays go, it was a fairly routine start to the 2017 season with a brake system problem on Esteban's car the only significant issue at the start of FP1. Fortunately we resolved that quite quickly allowing Esteban to get on with learning the track.
"The VJM10 has been behaving as we expected from a setup perspective, which allowed us to push on with understanding the various tyre compounds and seeing how they perform in these conditions compared to what we saw during pre-season testing. All the information we collected today will determine our approach for the rest of the weekend.
"Sergio's programme was straightforward and Esteban took a mature approach to learning quite a difficult track. We split some test items - aero and mechanical - between the two cars to make comparisons and that will help our decision-making tonight."
Mason Hawker
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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