While their colleagues tested at Jerez and Mugello, the Spyker Formula One team headed across the road to their local Silverstone circuit in order to take another step towards launching its new B-spec car and for the first time the team ran the new rear end and gearbox that will be used on the B-spec from the Turkish Grand Prix.

Running on the short Stowe Circuit configuration, the team’s official test driver, Dutchman Giedo van der Garde, completed just under 200km without any major mechanical problems.

'It was good to get back in the car, if only for a short time,” he said. “Today we tested the new rear end of the car and we didn't have any problems at all - apart from the weather! It's difficult to get a feel for the car on such a short track, but the fact it ran reliably from the start is a big plus point.'

“'Today`s test saw the introduction of a new rear end package as part of the team`s development programme for this year`s car. The new systems ran faultlessly through the day and a good deal of information was collected to allow us to move on to the next stage of our plan for improving the performance of the F8-VII,' Dominic Harlow, chief race and test engineer.