Di Resta's car damagedposted in F109 | 02 | 2012
SCOTS FORMULA ONE racer Paul di Resta was left cringing after watching his Sahara Force India reserve driver, Frenchman Jules Bianchi, crash his race car.
After completing 170 laps of the 2.75-mile circuit at Jerez in southern Spain on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 25-year-old from Bathgate was scheduled to sit-out today test.
And while his German team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was due to drive the car for the first time in the afternoon, Bianchi was charged with testing in the morning.
Disaster though struck on only his third lap of the day. In sunny, but cool conditions, Bianchi appeared to lose the rear-end of the Mercedes-powered car pitching him into the gravel.
While the team technicians rushed to the scene to help load the damaged car on to the back of a flatbed truck, Bianchi was left to reflect on the incident which put the car off the road for the rest of the day.
Scots F1 ace Pauli Resta second-fastest
“I made a small mistake on my second run," he said. "The tyres were a bit cold and I spun into the gravel and touched the wall with the right rear wheel.
"It was not a very big impact, but it caused some damage. I’m very sorry because my mistake has cost the team a lot of time and effort.”
Di Resta, meanwhile, who finished second-fastest on Tuesday, could only sympathise with the young reserve driver.
"That's motorsport," the Scot said. "These things happen. It's very easy early in the day to push just that little bit too hard before everything gets up to temperature.
"We've all done it. The important thing is Jules is ok, and the car isn't tat badly damaged. Of course it's a pity to lose a full day, but we'll catch up tomorrow."
Though the damage — including suspension and brakes — was restricted to the right rear-side of the race car, a small missing brake component halted the car returning to the track.
“It's a bit frustrating to lose some track time today, but we will take it on the chin because we had two very productive days earlier in the week with plenty of mileage," the team's technical director, Andrew Green, explained.
Watch our video of Paul driving his F1 car for the first time
"The damage to the car was not that significant, but a lack of spares at this time of year meant we could not go back out in the afternoon.
"The car will be ready for tomorrow morning when Nico gets his test programme underway. We will resume the aero work we started this morning and make the most of the tyres that we saved from today’s limited running.”
Nico Rosberg finished the day topping the timesheets, setting a fastest time of 1min 17.613secs in his Mercedes, 0.0806s ahead of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.
Double world champ, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso all got their first taste of their new machines.
Vettel ended the day third, 1.684s off Rosberg's pace, with Hamilton fourth, a further 0.167s adrift. Alonso could only manage seventh-fastest.
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Jim McGill