Summary – Saturday – Force India still absent from Q2

Despite very strong performances during free practice, the second part of qualifying continues to elude Force India. For now, the pattern is the same as in Australia.

Fisichella is, once again, ahead of his teammate Sutil both in practice and in qualifying. The Roman seems dismayed to see Q2 slip away by a handful of hundredths of a second!

The Indian team remains, nevertheless, a surprise at the beginning of the year, and sooner or later the efforts will pay off, and why not tomorrow with the help of the rain?

Adrian Sutil – 20th and 20th (qualified 21st):

« It wasn’t a good qualifying session, but to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much better after laborious free practice sessions in the morning. We are trying to work on the tires because they are causing us the most problems. »

« The car performed better in the afternoon, but the result is very real. On long journeys, I think we are better. In Melbourne, everything was going well and I have a good feeling. »

Giancarlo Fisichella – 14th and 17th:

« Barely five hundredths away from Q2, it was once again within reach! I’m a bit disappointed not to have made it, but I did my best with a good fast lap. Let’s say it’s very encouraging to finish just five hundredths away from Q2 and the top 16. It’s a promising result for tomorrow’s race. »

« The team has done a fantastic job so far. Of course, we have a lot of work to do, but I feel that we are heading in the right direction, which is great. »

Mike Gascoyne – Technical Director:

It’s very disappointing to have missed Q2 with Giancarlo by only five hundredths of a second. It’s also very frustrating to have achieved a nice 14th place in the morning with a very good time only to end up 17th on the starting grid. But this shows how exciting Formula 1 is at the moment.

Giancarlo did a good job all day, Adrian struggled with the balance of his car, but overall, I think we have a car that can be competitive compared to those of our rivals. The new parts we installed on the car have increased our performance in Melbourne. We need to think about our strategy to have a good race tomorrow.