Force India Optimistic after Double DNF at Suzuka Grand Prix

An exceptional Japanese Grand Prix weekend was brought to a frustrating close today for the Force India F1 Team as it recorded its first double DNF of the 2010 season. Following yesterday’s qualifying washout the grid was formed by a one hour session this morning, with Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi putting their VJM03s in 15th and 17th positions respectively as they struggled with the tyre temperatures on a cooler and slicker than expected track.

The pair however made fantastic starts in the day’s later race – each gaining at least five positions off the line – however Tonio’s race was shortlived as he was hit by Felipe Massa going into the first corner. The impact knocked him into the wall and into instant retirement. Adrian Sutil was up to eleventh when the safety car was deployed as a result of the debris and maintained a top ten position until his pit stop on lap 18. The German had regained tenth and was chasing Rubens Barrichello for ninth when an oil leak called a halt to his race on lap 45.

Updated News Force India Spa F1 Result

Some breaking news has come to our attention after the chequered flag waved at spa today. The Force India F1 Team’s Tonio Liuzzi has been moved up to tenth position in today’s Belgian Grand Prix following a post-race drivethrough penalty handed to Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari for cutting a chicane while overtaking Tonio at the end of lap 42. The penalty elevates Tonio ahead of Alguersuari and gives him the final point available.

The result makes it a double points finish for the team and gives it an 18 points advantage over Williams.

Tonio Liuzzi commented, ‘I’m really pleased to be back in the points again this race for the first time since Canada. We’ve always been pushing really hard so to get a point here, and to make it a double points scoring finish for the team, is a really good reward for all the hard work we’ve done over the past few weeks.’

Force India Post Race Spa Belgium

Adrian Sutil has finished a scintillating Belgian Grand Prix in fifth position, his first points scoring finish since the British Grand Prix and his best result of the season since the Malaysian Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi came home in 11th position, less than one second from tenth, despite having his front wing knocked off by Sebastian Vettel while in the hunt for points. The result moves Force India 17 points clear of Williams in the constructors’ championship and Adrian into ninth position in the drivers’ title race.

When rain fell just two laps into the race Adrian stayed clear of the ensuing chaos and remained out on dry tyres despite a safety car period. On the restart Adrian was able to jump ahead of the Williams of Hulkenberg into seventh and when Vettel and Button collided he was elevated to fifth. He pitted for hard tyres on lap 21 but was able to cruise past Kobayashi and then Schumacher to regain fifth. On lap 35 heavy rain started to fall and Adrian pitted for intermediate tyres. When Alonso spun on lap 38 another safety car period was called, allowing the German to move closer to the leaders. He finished the 44 lap race only nine seconds from eventual winner Lewis Hamilton.

Tonio made a great start from P12 on the grid and was running in ninth until his first stop on lap ten. He left the pits in 13th and gradually worked his way back up the field to close on the points. However on lap 25 Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who had earlier become embroiled in several on track accidents, knocked into the side of the Italian and clipped his front wing. Tonio returned to the pits for a nosechange and dropped down to 14th. When the rain arrived he pitted for extreme tyres and gave a spirited drive to move back up to 11th by the chequered flag.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Another fifth place so I am very pleased as I started in P8. I think that was the best we could do. It was very tricky conditions out there and you never knew what would happen with the weather. When the rain came it was sometimes light in places and heavy in others and I had to really concentrate to drive it home safely. Of course I was racing closely so I had to keep pushing, particularly after the safety car periods when the field bunched up, so we had some great racing and overtaking. The upgrades worked well and we can still improve – it was just the start of the development, which looks good for the next race in Monza as well. 

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It was a tough race and it was a shame we couldn’t get any points here today. We had a good start but I suffered a lot of front and rear graining on the soft compounds early on and also some damage to the front wing. We decided to pit earlier and do a long stint with the hard tyres and it was a pretty good decision as we had a good pace on this set and were in P11, not that far from getting into the points. But then Vettel tried to overtake me at the last corner and took my front wing off and that cost us points in this race. We lost more than 30secs changing the wing and without this I am pretty sure we could have finished in eighth or higher. But the race pace was still good, the car has been consistent and better than it has been all weekend so we could be proud of that. I’m now looking forward to my home race in 15 days time in Italy.

Otmar Szafnauer, chief operating officer
We’re obviously very pleased to be back in the points again today. Both drivers demonstrated a strong race pace and we worked well as a team monitoring the changeable weather conditions. Tonio was unlucky to miss out on the points due to losing his front wing when Vettel ran into him. The points are crucial for the championship at the moment and the pace also bodes well for Monza in a couple of weeks’ time.

Force India Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying

The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix from eighth position with Adrian Sutil – his sixth Q3 entrance this year. Adrian negotiated the thrilling rain-punctuated qualifying session to secure his first top ten start since the Canadian Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi will start from P12.

The pitlane bristled nervously as all 24 cars took to the track early in Q1 to make the most of the conditions before a predicted rain shower. When it materialised half way through the session it lasted just a few minutes, giving a couple of minutes of drier running at the end. After a nail-biting lap both Adrian and Tonio passed into Q2 with the 12th and 15th quickest times.
Q2 remained dry and both drivers opted for the soft tyres for both runs. Adrian crossed the line with the fifth quickest time and Tonio the 14th, however he will start from 12th following penalties handed to both Mercedes drivers.

Having used two sets of option tyres in Q2, Adrian could only make one run in Q3 and timed his lap to coincide with the very last seconds of dry running before another rain shower arrived. He got in one lap, the eighth quickest of the session, and will line up alongside the Williams of Barrichello for tomorrow’s 44 lap Belgian Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Getting into the top ten was my aim today so I’m really happy. It was a tough qualifying of course with the showers and we had to be quick in taking decisions on the pitwall and on the circuit we had to react quite quickly as you never knew what was going to happen. I was lucky to go through in Q1 as I did my quickest lap on the intermediate tyres and the track was drying. Then second qualifying went well and in Q3 I was quite happy with the one lap I did. We only had one set of option tyres left for Q3 and I just missed out on a second lap as at the end of the first lap it had started to rain. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, I think there will be a lot of overtaking maneouvres, particularly up the hill and into Eau Rouge after the start, and you can really attack throughout the race.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It wasn’t such an enjoyable qualifying as everything was very confusing and stressful with the rain in Q1. But overall we made an improvement to our car as we have had some problems with top speed from Friday practice until Q1. The car has a good balance into the corners and the blown diffuser is working well but although we improved in qualifying, it didn’t feel 100%. In FP3 this morning we also ran just four laps, also with a different wing setting, so we went into qualifying a bit blind. But we can be pretty happy, the forecast is changing every 10 minutes for the race tomorrow so we’ll keep on top of it and from P12 on the grid we’ve still got a good chance of scoring some points.
Otmar Szafnauer, chief operating officer
We’re obviously very pleased to be back in the top ten again after a couple of difficult races, and to get two cars starting in the top 12 is our best qualifying session since Canada. It wasn’t an easy session to call with the rain coming and going but we made the most of the conditions to give ourselves a good shot of a points finish, which is of course the ultimate aim. We know our race pace is strong, but as usual here in Spa you also have to be spot-on with the tyre calls if the weather is changeable. We look forward to a competitive race tomorrow.

Force India Post Practise Sepang Malasia Grand Prix

Hot and humid Sepang was the venue for the opening day of practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend. Teams and drivers sizzled in the searing heat during the two 90 minute sessions, the curtain raiser to the third event of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta were back in action for Force India in FP1, with regular race driver Tonio Liuzzi returning for FP2 as test and reserve driver Paul got more time in the VJM03 as part of his scheduled programme.
The trio ploughed through the standard Friday workload of tyre and set-up evaluation and – in Paul’s case – circuit familiarisation. Adrian was a promising seventh quickest while Paul was 15th in FP1. Tonio returned for the second session, setting the 12th quickest time while Adrian posted the 10th best lap.
Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Today was very much following our normal Friday programme. I had to be a little bit patient as the track was dusty at the beginning of the morning so it was just driving and learning the circuit again. In the afternoon we then went to do a little set-up work. It was difficult with the hot track temperatures we experience here as the tyres overheated very quickly and it was challenging to get it under control. We have a few things to look at set-up wise but we should be fine for tomorrow. We are in the top 10 still, just behind the top four teams. I think it will be an interesting day, probably with some rain thrown in as well!
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
Today was a good opening day of practice for the team. I missed the morning session but we did the most important job of understanding the tyres and following our programme targets. We are quite happy, and although the car suffered a little understeer in the high speed corners, it is responding well and we understand the behaviour of the tyres over the longer runs. It looks like qualifying here will be interesting as the rain started at 4pm but we can deal with the conditions I am sure.
Paul di Resta
I’m feeling a lot more comfortable and I think that was why I was able to get up to speed relatively quickly. It ran more smoothly today and even though I didn’t have any prior experience of the circuit I got into a relatively comfortable zone quite soon. The programme was exactly the same as if Tonio had been in the car, running through baselines and then understanding the tyres. Here the tyres don’t last very long with the heat and we missed the peak with them and didn’t quite set the optimum time, but I think ultimately you can’t pay too much attention to that as it’s not always going to be relative to what we are doing and where we are. It’s just getting myself in the environment, getting the track time and learning the circuits.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
We didn’t encounter any major problems today as we established the relative performance and degradation characteristics of the two tyres available for this race. The high track and air temperatures are, as usual here, dominating the behaviour of the car. Today’s sessions have been at the normal times of day, but as we head into the weekend they become later again, and that will be a factor in the decisions we make overnight. We’ve more work to do, but are looking forward to the challenges of the weekend ahead.

Force India Comment Pre Malaysia Grand Prix

After a spectacular race in Australia the third round of the FIA Formula One World Championship is just a few days away. The teams continue their journey to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Grand Prix on April 4.

Pedro de la Rosa: ?The Sepang circuit is one of my favourite tracks. It has a lot of rhythm with many flowing corners which reminds me a little bit of the Circuit de Catalunya. The track in Malaysia is physically extremely demanding, especially because of the humidity and the heat. I like driving there a lot! It is important to be fit for there. For a driver it is by far the toughest race on the championship calendar and it is also very demanding on the car. I think if you are quick there you are quick everywhere, and, as I said before, it is a bit like Barcelona and both are very representative of what we find at other circuits. This means it is a good test bench for the drivers and the cars.?

Kamui Kobayashi: ?I have good memories of Sepang as I won a GP2 Asia race there in 2008. It is a pretty nice track – I like it. The heat is tough, but that?s the same for everybody. I don?t mind the heat, but I hope we don?t get the same weather as during last year?s Grand Prix when the race had to be stopped because of the heavy rain. Malaysia is not too far from Japan and, hopefully, I will meet some Japanese fans there. The last corner before the main straight is my favourite. You have to brake very hard and get the corner right to accelerate down the straight. It has a lot of influence on the lap time, because if you don?t get this one right you really pay for it.?

Technical Director Willy Rampf: ?Sepang is a very demanding circuit which asks a lot from the chassis and the set-up. It has corners with very quick changes of direction in which stability is crucial. At the same time you need good traction to accelerate out of the slow corners, which in some cases lead uphill. The right hander before the back straight is especially tricky with its tightening radius. ?We expect ambient temperatures of around 35 degrees Celsius and accordingly track temperatures over 40 degrees. Therefore you have to take care of the cooling, and this is something you also have to take into account for the set-up to avoid excessive tyre wear. The weather is rather unpredictable with the chance of rain in the late afternoon high, which certainly would make for an exciting race.?

Force India Post Chinese Grand Prix Press Conference

Adrian Sutil Q&A: ‘We should all be very proud of this race’

Adrian Sutil put in another brilliant wet weather performance for Force India in China, running as high as sixth – ahead of Lewis Hamilton – before aquaplaning caught him out and pitched him into the tyre wall with less than six laps to go. Adrian had started with a light fuel load, but the team changed strategy in the early laps behind the safety car by bringing him in and giving him more fuel. Once the race finally got going he pitted again on lap 19 and filled up to run to the flag in what was in effect a one-stop strategy. Running a very heavy car and keeping his extreme wet tyres alive for such a long stint was a huge challenge. We asked him for his thoughts on the race.

Q: You had a fantastic race in the wet in Monaco last year, and another one here, but sadly both ended in retirement. What are your feelings about today?
‘Our performance was really very good and we should all be very proud of this race. It was a risk to go on one-stop, because I stopped very early. I was very light at the beginning and then under the safety car we went into the pits and just filled it up. We knew it would have been tight on the tyres, but the grip in the corners was enough to stay in a good position, but with the aquaplaning on the straights it was sometimes hard to keep it on the circuit. You never knew what was going to happen because the car went to the left or the right. With six laps to go I hit another patch of water and ended up in the wall. It was very disappointing.’

Q: That set of tyres had to do a lot of laps. How did they look when you stopped?
‘They were still OK, but the profile goes down and down. We’re talking about a few millimetres, but it is still enough to cause a lot of problems with the water. I got a lot of understeer, and the traction went down of course, but after 30 laps that’s how it is.’

Q: Was it fun taking on the McLarens in an equal fight?
‘Yes it was good! I made a good pass on Kovalainen when he went out of the pits, so I could take his position. Then I was behind Lewis, and in the end he was behind me. It was nice to just race the guys in the front there. We had really good pace, so that was promising.’

Q: In Monaco you had the reigning World Champion behind you when you retired, and you did this time as well!
‘That’s true. Maybe it’s a little bit of bad luck then! It’s just a little co-incidence, but it’s nice to race the World Champions of course, when we don’t have the fastest car in the field right now.’

Q: Since Monaco there have been several wet races and potential opportunities, but luck hasn’t been on your side. Was it good to finally have another chance to show what you can do?
‘This was very nice, I’m pleased that it happened like this. We could have done a safe run, changed tyres, and maybe we would have been in the back. But that’s not the way we want it to go, we had to take a risk because we know that we’re good in the wet. Of course we were unlucky and it wasn’t possible to bring it home, but sometimes it’s just bad luck if you hit a patch of water. We couldn’t do anything about it.’

Q: You filled up quite early. How close was it going to be on fuel?
‘We were on the limit, but it was definitely enough, we just checked it. I tried to save a lot of fuel during the race. I knew it was going to be a long way to the end. In the last 10 laps I was attacking again, because we didn’t need to save the fuel anymore.’

Q: We’re unlikely to have a wet race in Bahrain next week. Any thoughts on going there?
‘I think there we’ll have seriously dry conditions! We’ll get a few updates on the car which will help us get a better performance in qualifying. But again it’s going to be difficult. We’re at the back of the field right now, and we have to take our chances, like we did here, and try to move on. Development is going on, and we’re getting new upgrades for the next few races, hopefully it’s enough to progress.’

Force India Post Qualifying News

18 April 2009 – The Force India Formula One Team had a tougher day today as preparations for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix continued. Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella got a solid performance from the VJM02 in free practice and qualifying for the race at the Shanghai International Circuit, however will line up in 19th and 20th positions respectively after yet another ultra competitive session. The pair will now be looking to have a stronger race tomorrow and consolidate the team’s perfect finishing record so far this year.

Adrian Sutil (car 20)
‘We knew it was going to be difficult here today. We couldn’t find a balance as we don’t have enough downforce just yet. This is our main issue and why it is very difficult to drive right now. Although today was tough, we should be more competitive in the race as the pace on Friday over longer runs was better. Our goal now is to finish without any incidents. We know our car is reliable so maybe we can pick up some places like this.’

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)
‘Today it felt better than yesterday but it was still tough. We are lacking grip aerodynamically, particularly in the slow speed corners. This race might be tough but we know there is another step to come in Bahrain so the aim here is to get to the finish. We need to have a good strategy and try to do what we can.’

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
‘Both drivers found low grip and a difficult balance today. The one lap performance just wasn’t there and that is reflected in our start positions. We had a good race car on Friday over longer runs and, combined with some interesting opportunities in the race, we are looking for a solid finish.’

Force India Post Practice Chinese Grand Prix

17 April 2009 – The third event of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship got underway today at the modern Shanghai International Circuit, China, with two 90 minute free practice sessions. As the track is unused for racing activities for the greater part of the year it typically takes some time for a layer of rubber to be laid down and, with this in mind, Force India adjusted its programme to conduct the bulk of the running in the afternoon’s session.

Both Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella completed their programmes of set-up optimisation and comparing the tyre compounds available this weekend. Adrian enjoyed a strong day as he set the 14th quickest time in the morning and the 11th in the afternoon, just over one second from the pace-setting Brawn GP. Team-mate Giancarlo had a tougher day as he struggled to find a good balance on the VJM02, but with 50 laps over the day he gathered lots of information to improve overnight.

Adrian Sutil (car 20)
‘It is a change to be here at this time of year. We are used to having around 30 degrees here so with the cooler temperatures it’s much easier to drive although the tyres take a bit longer to warm up. The medium tyres are OK over the longer run, but very hard over a single lap. The supersoft on the other hand is fine for one lap but not as bad as we expected over the longer runs. Overall it went OK, we completed our work and the general balance is good. I’m pleased with the position so I think it was a good start.’

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)

‘I’m not particularly happy with how today went. I am struggling with the car balance at the moment. It’s not consistent just yet and I don’t feel entirely comfortable. At the moment we don’t have a problem with the tyres – in these temperatures we are pretty much OK. We have some ideas of what we can do so I think we will improve for tomorrow.’

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
‘This weekend is going to be all about how we use the dry tyres and our Friday programme reflected this. We tried a lot of different things in a structured test and the VJM02 has been reliable and responsive to changes so far. The track was quite green today and hence low grip but it will evolve over the next two days and that will be something we have to account for as we approach qualifying and the race. It will be another tight qualifying session tomorrow.’

Force India Pre Chinese Grand Pre Press Release

This years Chinese Grand Prix will be third race of the 2009 championship, a change from recent years when it has featured towards the end of the season. However the addition of Abu Dhabi as the season finale means that Shanghai has been moved to April to help ensure a balance of flyaways and China will now form a double header race with Bahrain.

Following a strong double finish in Australia and improved pace in Malaysia, the Force India Formula One Team will go to the Chinese race with the aim of translating its early-season promise into results.
Details and data on the Shanghai International Circuit, the weekends schedule and a lap of the track with Adrian Sutil are available in the attached pdf document.

Team Q&A

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Did the first two races of the 2009 season pan out as you expected?
Before the start of the season, we said that the first four flyaway races would be somewhat of an extended test session for the team due to the lack of test mileage over the winter. However when we got to Australia and Adrian and Giancarlo were able to convincingly stay with the pack and so nearly got into the points, we were forced to re-evaluate our expectations. We know we still have some work to do, but I think we can be very encouraged by the speed, reliability and performance of the team.

The team made a lot of changes over the winter both technically and on an operations level. How do you now review them now, two races into the year?
2008 was very much a learning year for the team and, on the basis of these lessons, I made some changes over the winter. I am pleased to see the switch to a McLaren-Mercedes drivetrain has been very reliable and the drivers say the mechanical balance and grip has to date been very good. Nobody would count us out for points so I think this says we have made a good decision. Secondly, we made some changes on the management front. The team is now a much more cohesive outfits all pulling in the same direction and this is entirely positive. So yes, I feel our decisions have been vindicated by the improvements this year.

Have you been surprised by the field this year?
After winter testing, everyone expected the Brawn GP cars to be very quick and this has proved to be the case. Although the team started its 2009 preparations very early on last year and has significant resources, it is now effectively an independent team and I am very pleased that the team can operate at such a high level. It certainly gives us all some lessons. What we have seen further down however is that the field is still very close and we cannot predict the outcome. Under these circumstances I think we have reasons to be very positive about our own situation.

Driver Q&A
Adrian Sutil (car 20, VJM02/03)

What have you learned about how competitive the car is this year from these two races?
We are closer this year and in general the VJM02 is an improvement from last seasons car. The balance and mechanical grip is good and it is very fast in a straight line, but at the moment we don¡¦t have enough downforce. We do have a much clearer direction though this year,  last year we were struggling everywhere, but this year it’s just downforce. We need more grip in the corners. I know we have some developments in the pipeline so at this point in the season I am hopeful. The car has potential, definitely.

Are you enjoying driving the 2009-style cars?
I think we didn’t really lose performance as everyone expected. The cars are quicker than last year, so with less downforce and slick tyres, you don’t really feel any difference in speed. It’s a bit different driving them, but I really like it. It’s very good for F1 to be back on slick tyres.

What will your aims be for Shanghai?
The aims, as for the previous races, is to be reliable and get to the finish. This year I’ve got a 100% finish record so far, and I want to keep this up. We’ve seen that some of the other teams are having problems with KERS and the order is not so fixed at the moment so if you get to the finish theres a good chance you could do well. I think this should be our goal for now, but when we get back to Europe I want to be racing on merit, not just waiting for something to happen to another driver.

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21, VJM02/01)

What have been your thoughts on the opening two races of the 2009 season?
We are definitely closer than we were last year. For sure qualifying is still a bit of a problem for us, but in Australia we were only a couple of tenths from the World Champion so we can’t be too disappointed. In the race it’s not looking too bad. The balance is good and I have had some nice fights with other cars. Unfortunately in Malaysia we made the wrong call with the tyres so we couldn’t show our real performance there, but in Australia it was not too bad. We are racing and that’s a step forward. We need more downforce now, but we have a clear direction to improve and I think this is really positive.

Is the field more competitive this year?
I think it is even tighter than it was last year and a lot more unpredictable too. Some teams you would expect to be up there at the front are midfield, and we’ve seen that if you get the strategy right or wrong it can make a really big difference. You just can’t afford to slip up, even more so than last year.

Looking forward to Shanghai, what are your goals?
The main goal this weekend is to have a clean event without any mistakes, qualify well and to finish the race. I think it’s too early to start hoping for points yet, but we need to keep the momentum going and get as much information as possible so when we introduce new parts we can really see an improvement.

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