Force India satisfied with Brazilian race
The Force India Formula One Team suffered a frustrating end to its debut season in today's Brazilian Grand Prix. Points looked tantalisingly close for Giancarlo Fisichella, who had made an inspired early call to change to dry tyres on lap two following the heavy rain on the grid.
The Italian was catapulted up the field to third position when the rest of the field pitted some five laps later and he held a points scoring finish until his first pit stop on lap 38. An undetected clutch problem however led to two stalls in the pit and Giancarlo dropped from the sharp end of the field to the rear. Undeterred, he continued to push until the end to finish a disappointing 18th.
Adrian Sutil put in a steady performance in the chaotic rain-soaked race, making no mistakes in the changing conditions. The German finished his second season of F1 in 16th overall.
Adrian Sutil (car 20)
"I think it was a good finish for this season - at least we could see the chequered flag. We had two cars behind us too, which was a good effort. It was quite difficult at the beginning to get the strategy right with the tyre choice. We started on the intermediates and then went back to drys and it worked out quite well for us. On the first set we had a lot of graining but the second was quite alright. We gambled at the end with the extreme wets as it was very dark and looked like it would rain very heavily. The rain didn't come soon enough though and we struggled, but overall we did the maximum we could."
Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)
"It was an exciting race, with so many things happening. It was a good decision to go to the dry tyres after the safety car came out and then it was looking very good. This part of the race was fantastic, even though it was very difficult through the first part of the circuit. Turns one and two were particularly bad, almost undriveable, but the rest of the circuit wasn't too bad as there was a dry line. The lap time was getting much better, then for a while I was in the first three and was keeping a good pace. Unfortunately in the first pit stop I had a problem with the clutch and dropped right back. In both stops there was no clutch and I lost a lot. In the rain at the end we tried to gamble with the extreme tyres as there was nothing to lose. Despite the result though it was an incredible start to the race and we can be pleased with the performance."
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: "First and foremost congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for winning his first World Championship in such difficult conditions. For us, it was a disappointing end. Giancarlo drove a fantastic race after he made the call to stop and go onto dry tyres. It was very wet on the main straight and through sector one, so we were taking a risk but it was the right call and he drove a very, very competitive first stint. We would have scored points, which would have been an apt result for what's been a difficult season. Unfortunately in his first pit stop Giancarlo had a clutch problem and had a series of stalls, which dropped him right down. Adrian drove a steady race and fended off Kubica for the greater part of the race to get a finish in the final event of the year. Thanks to all the team at the track and back at base. Although we do not have any points, everyone has worked very hard."
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director: "All our congratulations to Lewis and to McLaren for clinching the championship in such dramatic fashion. It would have been a dream result for us to get points in our last race of the year and for some time it looked like that dream would come true. Unfortunately it just did not go our way, but we showed we could make the calls and race competitively. I would like to thank my team, my drivers and all our valued sponsors for sticking with it, not losing faith and pushing right until the very end. We know things can only get better now."
