Young French rookie Jean-Eric Vergne enjoys "positive" first day in Toro Rosso's STR7 after finishing fifth on the timesheet
21-year-old happy after first day in new car
Jean-Eric Vergne believes early indications about the potential of Toro Rosso's new STR7 are positive, after he got behind the wheel of the car for the first time at Jerez.
The young French driver is making his full Formula 1 debut this year with the Red Bull junior team after impressing in test and Friday practice run-outs towards the end of 2011.
After new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was given the opening two days of the test in the car, Vergne was in action on Thursday and completed a number of short runs as he familiarised himself with the new machine.
The 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 runner-up racked up 79 laps in total to finish a promising fifth on the times, and afterwards expressed his encouragement with how the day had gone.
"My first feeling when I got in the cockpit was a positive one," Vergne said.
"The car seems to have a good base from which we can progress over the winter tests. In general, it was a positive day for me and the team and I am happy with the work we got through.
"I still need to work on my seating position in the car to make it perfect and I'm looking forward to making more progress tomorrow."
He added that he had tried to put the emotion attached to his maiden test as an F1 race driver out of his mind.
"Was it a special feeling knowing this is 'my' Formula 1 car for the season? I preferred to concentrate on the work side of things and put the extraordinary aspects of the job to the back of my mind," Vergne said.
