Adrian Sutil outshone the likes of Lewis Hamilton to lap ninth quickest in both the practice sessions for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix as Force India's new car promised a turnaround in the fortune of the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit.

The Silverstone-based outfit could not have asked for a better start to its 2009 Formula One campaign as Sutil's VJM02 posted a lap of 1:27.993s in the first session which was better than the likes of Renault's Fernando Alonso and McLaren's Hamilton. Sutil returned for another ninth place finish in the second segment and his 1:27.040 was better than the Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton.

Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella finished 14th in the morning session before moving up a place in the afternoon.