Both Force India drivers used words such as ‘straightforward’ and ‘typical’ to describe how Friday practice at Monza unfolded for them today. Adrian Sutil was P12 at the end of the afternoon session and Paul di Resta was just one place lower on the timesheets.
“Two straightforward sessions for me,” summarised Sutil. “The car had a bit of oversteer this morning, especially in Parabolica, but the general feeling was pretty good straightaway. In the afternoon I felt quite happy with the aero balance but we will need to explore all the options this evening to make sure we make the right call on the downforce levels for the race.
“We didn't look especially competitive on the timesheets today so it's clear we need to think hard about how we approach tomorrow. In terms of tyres, things look okay. I did long runs on both the medium and soft compounds and they both lasted quite well, so should not cause us any worries.”
The team chose to put test and reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg in the car for the morning session, hence Di Resta has had just one 90-minute session to get acquainted with the Monza circuit today.
“Monza is not the easiest of tracks to get up to speed on,” notes the Scot. “There are so many big stops on the brakes and it took me a while to find my rhythm this afternoon. Otherwise it was a typical Friday session without any dramas.
“We obviously concentrated on trying to find the best aero balance and worked on the stability of the car under braking. What we have is a good baseline and not too far away, but once we've been through all the data we should have a better idea of where we can improve for tomorrow.
“It's also clear that we need to find some speed overnight because the times around the middle of the pack are very close.”