Assessment: Force India Two Steps Away from the Podium!

Vijay Mallya is a happy team principal at the moment! Force India was just a small second away from a second consecutive podium. However, the team still scores big points with Sutil’s 4th place. The German, who started this Grand Prix from the front row, was overtaken by Kimi Räikkönen and spent most of the race behind him. But with a two-stop strategy, he couldn’t do anything against the Brawns.

Liuzzi was set to make only one stop and delivered a very convincing performance until a gearbox problem stopped him in his tracks while he was in 6th position. He, too, could have aimed for big points at the end of the race.

Adrian Sutil – 4th:

«It was a great race and the car was really running well. At the start, we knew it would be really difficult to defend our position against Kimi [Räikkönen] and his KERS button and then I was stuck behind him for the entire race. I was really fast but I couldn’t find a way to pass him with his KERS. During my second stop, we had a chance to catch him in the pits and I really pushed hard but I was a bit late on the brakes in front of the box. I think I owe an apology to the mechanics for going a bit wide! But, even so, they did a great job to make up for my mistake. The race pace was generally very good, but ultimately the one-stop strategy worked better than the two-stop one. Nonetheless, we scored a lot of points and I am really, really happy for myself and the entire team here, at the factory, and in the wind tunnel.»

Vitantonio Liuzzi – Retirement:

Finally, I am running again and I gave 100%. We didn’t make any mistakes and everything was perfect until we found ourselves in a very good position, but that’s racing unfortunately. I had an unusual problem, the transmission started making a strange noise and then everything was over. That’s racing and it’s a shame since we hadn’t had any reliability issues until now, but that’s how it is. We won’t give up until the end of the season, we wanted to get a lot of points and I am sure we will.

Vijay Mallya – Team Principal:

« It was another great weekend for Force India. We thought the podium would be a dream when we arrived here and at the end of the race we were only a second away.. Adrian had a fantastic race and fully deserved his points. Tonio almost had a perfect start to his career with Force India, but unfortunately, we couldn’t give him the reliability he deserved. However, he has identified himself as a star in the making, and I’m sure he will get his own chances at points. We can go to Singapore with our heads held high now. We know the car is good, and with new developments coming for this race, we can be very confident of continuing this momentum.»