Force India go into the summer break having retained sixth spot in the constructors’ championship despite failing to score any points for the second race running.
Adrian Sutil was the innocent victim of a accident when, pitting under the safety car, he was hit by the Renault of Robert Kubica as the Pole was emerging from his pit box.
“Things were going pretty well to begin with – I made up two positions at the start and was running behind the Sauber of de la Rosa,” explained Sutil. “I was actually quicker than him but just couldn’t find a way past as making an opportunity is very hard on this track. Then the safety car came out and I got called into the pits.
“I was driving into my area when suddenly the Renault came out in front of me. There wasn’t anything I could do, they released him into my path and I just crashed into him and my car was damaged too badly to continue. It was definitely unsafe from their part. A real shame it’s my first DNF since Australia and it’s even more disappointing as it for sure wasn’t our issue.”
Tonio Liuzzi started the grand prix from sixteenth and, on a track where overtaking is tricky, could only finish thirteenth. “A tough race, as starting from that far behind it’s difficult to make up positions, but we showed a good pace and were close to the points,” said the Italian.
“We lost a piece of the front wing at the first corner, which caused a lot of understeer, and then I had to come in for a change eventually, which dropped me back behind the field.
“With the soft tyres we were fast but then lost a lot of time behind the Toro Rosso, who was actually struggling much more than me. Even so I just couldn’t find a way to overtake. I tried hard until the last lap but there was just no chance.
“It’s been a difficult weekend, missing out on the points, but we confirmed we are competitive and always have the potential to score points. We also have some tracks coming up that should suit us better and I hope that from Spa onwards we should show a much more positive trend.”
Vijay Mallya, the Force India team principal, is also looking optimistically towards future races after another unlucky weekend for the team. “A difficult race, but we probably got as much as we could from it from Tonio’s side,” he said. “The pace was good but he just couldn’t find a way past on the twisty track.
“Adrian was very unfortunate to be taken out by the Renault, and it’s very frustrating from our side as we would have had a good chance of picking up some points without that incident.
“Ultimately we’ve missed the points again, but we’ve got some tracks coming up that should suit us a lot better so we’ve got to keep looking forwards and focussed on maximising every opportunity.”
