Adrian Sutil - Photo Credit: Sahara Force India F1 Team
Force India enjoyed another good qualifying session today in Brazil as Adrian Sutil secured eighth place on the Interlagos grid and Paul di Resta qualified eleventh.
“[It was] another good qualifying session for me to carry on a strong weekend,” said Sutil, clearly pleased with his efforts today. “I had a good feeling all afternoon and I really enjoyed the session because the balance of the car felt great. The only real issue was the fact that it was quite windy, but I was able to adjust my driving and it didn't catch me out.
“Eighth is a good place to start and I'm feeling confident for tomorrow – whether it's wet or dry. We just have to wait and see what the weather does, but I hope we can come away with a lot of points because I'm targeting ninth place in the drivers' championship. That would be a nice way to end the season.”
Di Resta revealed that he does not appear to have the same straight-line speed as his team-mate, hence the reason for his slower laps times. However, the Scot said that he was ‘reasonably satisfied’ with the result today.
“I knew it was going to be quite a tough session because I was suffering with a top speed delta compared to Adrian's car and we've not been able to fully understand why that's the case,” he said. “It meant I was giving away some time on the straights, which is a little frustrating. On the other hand, I have to be reasonably satisfied with P11 and the fact that I only just missed out on Q3.
“There's rain forecast for tomorrow and we know the car has been competitive in the wet so hopefully we can capitalise on that. And if it's dry we should be strong because our pace during long runs has looked pretty good.”
Deputy Team Principal Robert Fernley emphasised that the main aim for tomorrow’s race is for Force India to finish the season with sixth place in the constructors’ championship and give Sutil a top ten finish in the drivers’ standings.
“I think overall we can be pleased with today's qualifying result,” he said. “We were confident of getting both cars in the top ten, but Paul has been suffering with a top speed issue since this morning, which we are still investigating. Without that issue we could well have seen both cars in Q3. As for Adrian, he delivered another excellent qualifying performance, setting consistent lap times and squeezing the maximum from the car.
“For tomorrow we're all looking at the weather forecast because there's a high risk of rain. Whatever happens we are well placed to come away with points for both cars to hopefully secure sixth place in the championship and get Adain in the top ten of the drivers' championship.”
