Sergio Perez was delighted with the progress made by Force India as he led the way on the opening day of further testing in Bahrain.

Perez managed to complete a healthy 105 laps over the course of the day as the Mercedes-powered teams continued to lead the way.

The Mexican set his fastest time of 1m 35.290s early during his outing and then the team opted to switch tactics and focus on race simulation.

The 24-year-old came away from the first day in Bahrain feeling optimistic about the campaign up ahead and has urged his team to aim his team to aim high.

Perez said: “We’ve made a great step today. It has been a fantastic day in terms of work, in terms of learning.

“We really needed that. I’m very happy, the team did a great job because we moved forward big time.

“There are many things you have to learn on these cars and before today I couldn’t do much.

“Tomorrow is my last day in the car before Melbourne so hopefully we can have another good day and then we will be in good shape.”

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