Cecotto enjoys amazing F1 experience

Johnny Cecotto Jr said the chance to sample F1 machinery was an 'amazing experience' after he joined Force India for the second day of testing in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Venezuelan replaced Max Chilton at the wheel of the VJM04 for the second day of running at Yas Marina and produced an impressive display on his F1 debut as he posted the fifth quickest time from his 84 laps.

"Amazing is the only word to describe today," he said afterwards. "Everything was just incredible from the moment I left the pits to begin my first lap. These cars are so impressive: the power, the braking performance and the aerodynamic grip you get through the corners - it makes you say 'wow'. And there are so many systems on the car, too, such as the KERS, which really impressed me.

"It was good to try out some of the 2012 tyres in the afternoon and the team seemed happy with the data and my feedback. Overall it was just an unbelievable experience to work at such a professional level, with a great crew, and I want to thank Sahara Force India for giving me such a wonderful opportunity."

Oliver Knighton, race support and strategy engineer, was once again impressed by the performance of the youngster who sampled the car as Cecotto continued the work started by Chilton on day one.

"Today saw a continuation of the programme that we started yesterday with Max," he said. "We began with some familiarisation runs for Johnny to get him comfortable in the car and he quickly got a good grasp of the control systems on the car, and was switching modes without being prompted. The technical programme focussed on more data collection for the 2012 Pirelli tyres and we also did some aero sweeps in the afternoon. Overall it was a good day's work: Johnny has settled in well with the team and gave excellent feedback."