Review: Even without points, Force India keeps its spirits up

Force India’s clearly stated goal for this German race was not achieved, and the Indian team returns from its weekend without a single point. That said, both of the team’s cars were very competitive throughout the race and team members can find solace in knowing that the gap with the top teams is narrowing and points are getting closer!

Starting from a brilliant seventh position, Sutil had a long first stint that took him up to second place in the Grand Prix! Unfortunately, after his pit stop, a contact with Räikkönen (again… remember Monaco last year) ruined his chances of a good finish. As for Fisichella, a very good start and strong pace allowed him to liven up the pack with some great overtakes. He finished 11th, but less than 4 seconds away from the point for 8th place!

Adrian Sutil – 15th:

« We must not be disappointed with this result because we had a good weekend and the next one will come very quickly. All our developments show that we are on the right track and that we are much more competitive. It was a good race for me: the start was quite difficult but I only lost one position. In the first stint, I had a good pace and it was really promising moving up to second position before my first stop. »

«When I came out of the pits, I saw Kimi coming from the outside of the corner, and I just tried to keep my line, but he went towards the outside, and I touched him and lost part of my front wing. That’s really when I thought the race for points was over because I had to go back to the pits again. I kept pushing very hard because you never know what can happen. »

Finally, I think we learned a lot, it was the first race starting from the top 10 and it’s a different race starting from there! It’s an extra motivation for everyone in the team to bring additional developments to finally score some points.

Giancarlo Fisichella – 11th:

After the qualification I had yesterday, I thought it would be a difficult race but I really enjoyed it and finished quite close to the points. I got a good start and overtook a lot of cars in the first laps. I was able to catch up and pass cars quite easily, although I started to get a lot of graining on the soft tires at the end of the first stint. In the second stint, it was still quite good and at the end of the race, I had caught up with the group in front of me. Maybe with a few more laps in the race, I could have tried something and attempted to pass Kovalainen for the 8th position.

I think we can be quite happy with ourselves this weekend, even if we haven’t scored points yet. We have climbed an additional step and with the few developments that are coming, I think we can really have other equally interesting races.

Vijay Mallya – Team Principal:

«It was largely a very good weekend and I am still very proud of the team and our drivers. Since the free practice sessions, we have shown significant progress, and our performance was very competitive. It’s just disappointing, after such a performance throughout the weekend, that we don’t have points to show for it. But that’s motorsport, these incidents can happen. The next race is only in two weeks, so we will refocus and finish the job in Hungary.»