Bortolotti enjoys F1 prize test

Mirko Bortolotti said he had enjoyed the chance to sample F1 machinery after taking up his prize drive for winning the Formula 2 title on the final day of running in Abu Dhabi.

The Italian produced an encouraging performance on his first run in a Formula 1 car as he aided Williams with its development programme focused on preparing for 2012.

Bortolotti was able to set a best time just a tenth of a second off the lap posted by test driver Valtteri Bottas and he admitted he had enjoyed his F1 experience.

"Everything was new for me today; the car and the track, so there was a lot to learn," he said. "The team had several objectives this morning so I wasn't just focusing on lap time but on getting that work done for Williams' 2012 preparations. We completed that and then moved on to finding performance this afternoon.

"It has been a really interesting day for me. I have really enjoyed being here with AT&T Williams and I am very happy with the job that we did."

Tom McCullough, Williams F1 race engineer, was pleased with the youngster's performance behind the wheel.

"It has been an excellent final day with Mirko Bortolotti," he said. "He did a really good job, improving on each run and iterating down to some good lap times. Overall, he gave excellent feedback, was consistent and is clearly physically fit.

"We have now completed our three day test and have lots of useful information to take away. The factory have done a great job this week in getting lots of test items out here in order to help our understanding of the FW34 and we can now return to the factory and analyse the data in order to develop the FW34."