Force India drivers Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil enjoyed mixed qualifying sessions at Sepang. Di Resta qualified in 14th position for his second ever Grand Prix, but Sutil was left down in 17th after a mis-shift problem in Q2.
Di Resta was pleased with his result, saying it bettered his expectations. “It was a very good job done by the team and equally, I think it was a very good lap by myself,” said the Scot. “We got more than I think we thought we were going to get out of it and I think that we have certainly closed the gap. But tomorrow is going to be a long race, in tricky weather conditions, but I am certainly getting more excited now about our progress with regard to improving our performance in the future.”
Sutil was left disappointed, but is looking towards the race. “The first qualifying session was not too bad I think and I felt quite positive,” he said. “But we did not improve too much in the second session, which I was a little surprised about and we had a problem with a mis-shift. But I know the team is working hard to try and solve these issues before the race tomorrow.”
Circuit engineering director Dominic Harlow added: “Our aim was to maximise our qualifying performance whilst only using the option tyre when necessary. Fortunately neither driver was affected by the Red Flag midway through the first session, and both drivers progressed to Q2. As we showed at the last race, we can score points from these positions given how close things are throughout the pack. Unfortunately Adrian had a mis-shift that cost him a better lap in Q2. We’ll be looking for a solid race to take advantage of the opportunities that are bound to arise in tomorrow’s conditions. With some more development over the coming events and Q3 only a few tenths away, we’ll be working as hard as we can to improve on these positions in future and become regular Q3 material.”