Sunday: Sutil brings two points to Force India at home
The Sahara Force India team is the only Indian team in Formula 1, and for its home Grand Prix, the drivers hoped to achieve a good result. Adrian Sutil succeeded in this by finishing the race in 9th place, earning the team two points. Paul di Resta wasn't as fortunate; he had adopted a strategy based on the deployment of the safety car, which never came, and he struggled to recover afterwards.
Adrian Sutil – 9th
« It was a good race and I think we can be happy to score two points today. In the early laps, I struggled with the rear of the car, with a bit of oversteer, and I couldn’t hold off the two Toro Rossos that were much faster than me today. But in the second and third stint, the car’s balance improved and I was able to keep the Sauber (of Perez) behind me in the final laps. We were also lucky with Buemi’s retirement, which allowed me to gain an extra position. I think 9th is probably the best we could do today, and I hope Vijay (Mallya) will be smiling tonight. »
Paul di Resta – 13th
« We decided to adopt an aggressive strategy today – starting with the hard tires – and we always planned to pit early, hoping for a safety car. It was a gamble to use the hard tires so early, and if it had worked, we would have gained a pit stop very quickly and finished the race with three sets of soft tires, which were the fastest. We had to make three stops because of tire wear, which was significant at the beginning, but things improved afterward. It’s good that Adrian was able to score some points, it’s important for the championship, and that’s why we decided to have two different strategies. »
Vijay Mallya – Boss of the Sahara Force India team
The Indian Grand Prix today was a great success and I hope the fans enjoyed the day as much as I did. Our goal was to score points and we succeeded thanks to Adrian’s very fine ninth place. As for Paul, he had a very good race too, but we decided to adopt an aggressive strategy in anticipation of the safety car’s intervention. But in the end, it didn’t work out, but we had to cover ourselves. These two points are important for our fight in the championship (constructors) and I am delighted that Sahara Force India enters the History books for scoring points in the first Indian Grand Prix.
Regarding my decision for the drivers for 2012, I said this week that I would give an answer to our drivers before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. I already have three excellent drivers, who are all still in the race, and it will not be easy to choose.
