Paul di Resta has said he is ‘really happy’ after securing sixth place on the grid – and the best qualifying position of his career so far – for his home race at a damp Silverstone.
“I'm really happy with the result today,” said the Scot. “To be here for my first British Grand Prix and to be starting in sixth place feels great. The whole team did an excellent job and made sure we were out on tack at the right times.
“The car has shown very strongly in every session and even in the wet yesterday we were very comfortable. Maybe there was a little bit of luck at the end of Q3 when the rain started again, but I think that in the worst case scenario I would have ended up in eighth. Hopefully we can carry the performance into tomorrow and come away with a strong result in my home race.”
Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil just failed to make it into Q3 today, and will start the British Grand Prix from P11. However, the German is not too disappointed by this result:
“I'm quite happy with this qualifying session,” he said. “It puts us in a good position for tomorrow. It was very close with four or five positions separated by a few tenths and I just missed out on making Q3 in the final few moments.
“The track conditions were tricky because it was a little bit wet at the beginning of Q2 and the track was constantly improving as it dried. We made the right calls with the tyres and made the most of the conditions so I'm quite happy with the outcome. I think the weather conditions are likely to be a bit better tomorrow and points will be the aim.”
Team principal Vijay Mallya was very delighted with the efforts of both drivers, and is hoping that both can finish in the top ten in tomorrow’s race. “To be starting the British Grand Prix from P6 and P11 is an excellent result for Force India and we can be very pleased with the performance of the car today,” he said. “The weather conditions have been challenging for everyone over the last couple of days, but we've remained focussed on the job and found a good balance with the cars despite the lack of dry running.
“I'm very proud of what Paul has achieved today. He has come here extremely confident and delivered an outstanding performance. Adrian, too, has felt very comfortable and we are now well placed to get both cars in the points tomorrow.
“Silverstone is always one of the highlights of the season and a special race for Force India. It's the home of our factory and a strong result here would be a fitting reward for the team's hard work so far this year.”
