Vijay Mallya say that Force India are aiming for ‘a double points finish’ in Monaco after Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil qualified tenth and twelfth for tomorrow’s race.
Adrian Sutil had traffic problems in Q2 which hampered his progress into the top ten shoot-out. The German also had his tyre preparation for another flying lap ruined by yellow flags, which were waving after Vitaly Petrov crashed in Turn 1 towards the end of the session.
Sutil explained the problems he faced during qualifying, and his prospects for tomorrow’s race: “Today was a difficult session as the car was very fast but I just couldn’t manage to get any lap in Q2. There was a lot of traffic and then the Renault crash in turn one came just at the wrong time and hit me quite badly.
“I’m quite disappointed as when I did get some clear air my tyres were cold and the lap I did was not enough. We just missed getting to Q3 but it should still be a good race. P12 is right in the middle of the field and I like the circuit, the car feels good and I’m going to try my best to get some points tomorrow. You never know what can happen here.”
Tonio Liuzzi equalled his best qualifying position of the season and is targeting points tomorrow. “It’s been a good day for us,” said the Italian. “Q3 was definitely the target and we got it, which is really great after the last two difficult qualifying sessions. I think we could even have got P9 as I was going quicker on the last lap but just locked up into the chicane and lost a little bit.
“But I love Monaco – it’s such a special event – and it’s good to start so high up. Being in the top 10 puts us in a strong position for tomorrow’s race as overtaking is so difficult to do here. We are positive we can fight for points this race, which is the most important for the team at this point in the season.”
Team Principal Vijay Mallya is optimistic of a good performance for Force India tomorrow: “Tonio had a very strong qualifying and really deserved to be in the top 10. He has had some issues with traffic in the past but today he and the team negotiated it well and he was able to get the most out of the car.
“Adrian was not so lucky with the traffic however P12 in Monaco is still quite a promising position to start the race from. We could see a double points finish from where we are, this has got to be the aim, so we’ll put everything into making it happen.”
