Three races, three times in the points for Force India
The Force India F1 Team's points haul continued in the Malaysian Grand Prix today as Adrian Sutil raced strongly to fifth place and ten points. Adrian drove a faultless race, keeping the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton at bay in the closing stages of the race to secure his best finish since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix and bringing the team's total points this year to 18.
Unfortunately Tonio Liuzzi retired on lap 12 with a suspected throttle problem. The Italian had made a good start and was enjoying a battle with Nico Hulkenberg but started to lose power on lap 10. He pitted however was obliged to retire when a fix could not be made.
The team will now return to the UK to prepare for the Chinese Grand Prix in two weeks' time.
Adrian Sutil (car 14): "The race was exciting and fifth place in the end was a great achievement. I was hoping for a good race as we were so close in the first two races but then had a little bit of back luck that stopped us scoring. It was a good overall performance from the team. It was always very close with Lewis [Hamilton] just behind in the closing stages but I knew that if I didn't make any mistakes I wouldn't have any problems, so it was just trying to concentrate. I had to push, of course, but it was under control. I think we can now carry this forward to China: we are still a good top 10 competitor and we need to continue like this - Q3 and a few points each race would be great at this stage in the season."
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15): "I had had a good start from tenth and was in seventh place and had a good pace, although I was stuck behind Hulkenberg in the Williams. I was struggling to pass even though I was quicker but we were optimistic for a good race. Unfortunately I had a problem with the throttle after about 12 laps. We didn't understand exactly what it was but overall we lost drive and that was the end of it. It's disappointing for me but I'm pleased that Adrian could score a lot of points as that helps us in the constructors' championship."
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: "Three races and three times in the points, I am absolutely delighted. Adrian had a strong race, keeping a cool head under pressure when a charging Lewis Hamilton was right on his tail. Once again we've proved the pace of our car and our ability to really mix it in the midfield. It was disappointing not to have two cars in the points, but it is overall very positive that we can race hard and score points entirely on merit."
