Weekend to forget for Force India

As great starts lead to premature endings for both drivers

 Sutil made strong progress from 19th, scything his way up to tenth position before a sudden tyre failure on lap nine on the long pit straight led to his retirement.

Fisichella too pushed through the field and was enjoying a tight battle with the Williams of Rosberg for 12th position. His race was also to come to a premature end however following a problem with the gearbox of his VJM01 on lap 21.

Adrian Sutil "I had a puncture on my right rear tyre and then suddenly on the straight the tyre blew and I had to stop the car. It was a shame as we were running 10th and it was feeling really good. We had a fantastic start - from 19th to 11th at the end of the first corner as I stayed to the inside and clear of all the problems, and I was in 10th position within a couple of laps. It was going very well and we had a good strategy, it was just so unlucky again."

Giancarlo Fisichella"The start off the grid was fantastic for me and I could overtake a lot of people.   In the first corner there were a lot of cars across and off the track and a lot of mess, so they slowed down a lot and I touched Barrichello at the back of his car and I damaged my front nose slightly. I decided to stay out and it was looking good. We were considering a one stop strategy which was much more comfortable and I was doing a good race, but then unfortunately at the end I had a problem with the gearbox and seventh gear. At least we are fighting again."

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer"Today was a shame for the team as I think we had every chance of doing very well. Adrian had a good first lap and on a two stop strategy it was looking promising for the rest of the race. Unfortunately he picked up a puncture, which was the end of his race. Giancarlo was also putting in a strong performance despite some contact in the first corner, which damaged his nose and gave some understeer as a result. He was on a one stop strategy, but had a gearbox failure just before the midpoint of the race. While it was a great shame for the team, it's good to see a strong race pace once again."

Click here for the Official Giancarlo Fisichella web site - designed and built by Racecar


Related Motorsport Articles

84,520 articles