The Italian put something off a dampener on a productive morning session – spent evaluating new aerodynamic upgrades – when he got caught out by the gusty winds just before the lunch break, losing control of his Force India going through the ultra-fast Becketts corner and spinning heavily into the barriers. The impact caused extensive damage to the VJM01, ruling the team out of any further action for the day and causing Fisichella to be sent briefly to hospital for precautionary checks. Team-mate Adrian Sutil will test for the Silverstone-based squad on Thursday.

“It's a real shame we couldn't do more running in the afternoon,” the 35-year-old later rued, “as this morning it was all looking quite good. The car felt quicker even though the balance was not so good because of the high winds.

“Unfortunately I just got caught out by a change in grip and balance going through Becketts and went off the track and hit the barriers. I wasn't hurt at all, but I did not take my hands off the wheel and they had to do some checks to make sure my wrist was okay.”

“We had a very productive morning,” added chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne, “but unfortunately with the very gusty conditions Giancarlo ran wide at Becketts just before the end of the morning. Unfortunately some of the new components were damaged, and we weren't able to go out again.

“It was a shame, as we had actually had a very useful morning with the new parts and certainly made some progress. We'll continue with Adrian tomorrow, where we will also be testing some suspension modifications that hopefully will be another step forward.”

To see Wednesday's testing times in full, click here