Friday: Bad luck hits Sutil and Force India

The objective of Force India this weekend will once again be to finish the race. They probably won’t be able to do much better because both drivers are a notch below in terms of performance despite Giancarlo Fisichella’s 12th place this afternoon (16th in the morning).

His teammate Adrian Sutil did worse by finishing last in both sessions. To top it off, a very rare fuel cell problem prevented him from getting on the track this afternoon. However, Force India wants to believe in its chances and even seems satisfied with the balance of the VJM02.

Adrian Sutil – 20th and 20th:

« Unfortunately, in the afternoon, I couldn’t get back on track because there was an issue with the fuel cell, and we couldn’t make the change in time. In any case, we have our setup information thanks to the winter tests, and I don’t think it will be a big problem tomorrow. Free practice 1 was OK; we just tested the available tires this weekend. We struggled a bit with the soft tires, as I wasn’t very happy with my time at the end. My teammate has a lot of experience, and we know which direction to take. »

Giancarlo Fisichella – 16th and 12th:

« It’s great to drive with an adjustable front wing, it makes things easier. We’re still struggling a bit with slow corners because we need to improve traction. We completed our program today. I think we did a good job in achieving this rate of development, but I think the goal now should be to finish the race and see where we stand. »

Dominic Harlow – Chief Engineer:

« If it was a useful day for Giancarlo Fisichella, it was less so for Adrian who lost his entire second session. His problem occurs very rarely and, despite hard work, it was impossible to fix it before the end of the second session. Fisichella worked on the tires. We are reasonably satisfied with the overall balance of the car and the data collected. »