Friday: Adrian Sutil struggles with Force (India)

Force India seemed to be at ease on fast tracks at the end of this season, but today for Adrian Sutil, the Abu Dhabi circuit does not fall into that category. The German driver set the 7th fastest time on Friday morning, with a brake issue that cost him track time. He secured the 11th position in the second free practice session where he struggled with an oversteering problem in the slow sections. Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, who finished in 17th and 15th place, is quite happy with his car and hopes to be quick in qualifying.

Adrian Sutil – 7th and 11th:

The single-seater was performing well today, although we still have work to do on the balance. We’re lacking a bit of grip with the hard tires, but everything goes well with the soft ones, even though we’re struggling with both compounds to get them up to temperature. We lost time this morning due to a brake issue, but it didn’t affect our program too much since the track didn’t offer much grip at the beginning. At the end of the first session, I was able to drive for 25 minutes, do two stints, and secure a good position. The circuit is nice, but it lacks some fast sections that we find on other tracks. There are many slow second-gear corners, and it’s not very fluid, but it’s still a big challenge because it’s very slippery and we’re fighting with oversteer. There were no issues with the change in brightness as the lighting is very good. You know it’s night, but we can see clearly. Driving at dusk was okay, I don’t think there will be any problems on Sunday.

Vitantonio Liuzzi – 17th and 15th:

The facilities are great here. The car was sliding a lot with the dust, but it was very interesting to drive under different lighting conditions throughout the day. It went well for me today. I think we are quite competitive and have a very good car when we are loaded with fuel. We still need to work on making the car perform better with a low fuel load, but I think we are heading in the right direction and I am happy with today’s progress. We knew it was going to be tough, but it’s not easy for anyone to find the balance in the car with the high temperatures, but I remain optimistic for tomorrow.

Dominic Harlow – Chief Race Engineer:

« Today’s objectives were to allow the drivers to familiarize themselves with the circuit in the real world rather than on the simulator, ensure cooling, make sure the basics of the braking system are appropriate, validate our wing camber, and also understand the tire behavior. We completed this program and will review the results tonight. Adrian lost some track time in both sessions due to a few minor issues, but it was not detrimental. What is clear, however, without needing to look at the data, is that this is an international class track that will certainly deliver an excellent event this weekend.