Saturday: Force India and Sutil dream of scoring points

Force India doesn’t stop! For several weeks, the team has been introducing new features at every Grand Prix, constantly improving and gradually getting closer to the top 10, threatening Williams, Toyota, BMW, and Renault. Today, the team is making good progress again, and even though luck hasn’t been on Fisichella’s side yet, Sutil feels that his first points might soon enhance his tally in the World Championship standings!

After successful Free Practice sessions this morning to prepare for qualifying, Sutil and Fisichella placed 1st and 6th respectively, the team reaches Q2 once again and narrowly misses Q3! The performances are very close, and the VJM02 has the potential to score points. We’ll see what happens…

Adrian Sutil – 1st and 12th:

We have been quick since the beginning of the weekend and everything worked very well. I am very happy with the updates on the car; the team is doing a great job. We have made a lot of progress in recent months and I am enjoying every session now.

« This morning, we prepared very well for the qualification, but we knew it would not be possible to repeat the first place… The conditions in qualifying were a bit difficult with low grip and very high temperatures. Especially since the lap times are all very close. It seems to be a characteristic of this circuit. We were just a few thousandths away from reaching Q3, so we are in a reasonable position to say that we can score our first points here! »

Giancarlo Fisichella – 6th and 16th:

« I am very disappointed with this result knowing that I could easily have reached Q2 today. Unfortunately, on my last stint, I got caught in traffic and couldn’t improve. I lost six or seven tenths in the last sector on my second lap. It will be a tough race. It’s a shame, I felt we could have hit hard today… »

Dominic Harlow – Chief Engineer:

Honestly, Adrian [Sutil] is where we thought we would be today in qualifying, and we are happy that he proves our progress. It’s frustrating for Sutil to have narrowly missed Q3, especially after securing the top spot in free practice 3 with a reasonable fuel load. It’s a shame for Fisichella; he could have been in the same position as Sutil. There’s no doubt the car is capable of making it into the top 10, and we are even hoping for a few points…