• Italian Grand Prix - FP1

First FP1 run 'amazing' - Calado

James Calado made his first appearance for Force India at a race weekend at Monza © Sutton Images

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James Calado described his first appearance in a Friday practice session as "amazing" after driving for Force India at Monza.

Having been confirmed as the team's third driver in the build-up to the race weekend, Calado replaced Adrian Sutil for FP1 and completed 24 laps with a best time just 0.4s slower than Paul di Resta. Calado then had to immediately head out for GP2 practice, but after completing both sessions he was delighted with how his first taste of Monza in a Formula One car had gone.

"Amazing - that's the only word I can use really, fantastic," Calado said. "It took quite a while to get used to, to be honest - it's a lot different to the GP2 car - but after a while I was familiar with everything again like I was at Silverstone [Young Driver Test] and was able to drive consistently and do some reasonable lap times actually. So I'm really happy; we just used the one set of tyres and I was happy with the way the programme went, that's for sure.

"I learnt a lot actually. It took half a session on the tyres just to get familiar again, to learn the late brake points and things like that but once I got it I was able to again give some good feedback to the team ready for FP2. It was quite hard for me though because I have to start on new tyres so when they're at their peak I'm learning, and when I'm ready they've completely gone. So over the session it was quite consistent and I think that was a positive point."

Calado also said he expects to get more Friday practice outings than the already planned Korea and Brazil.

"There will probably be a few more to be honest but I don't know which ones. Hopefully tracks I am familiar with but it will be nice to get out and learn the new ones."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.