Force India reasonably satisfied with Hungarian grid positions
The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil in 13th position and Tonio Liuzzi in 16th following another tight qualifying session. Despite a challenging weekend Adrian was two tenths from a Q3 position and will line up alongside the Williams of Barrichello and behind reigning world champion Button for tomorrow's race.
Tonio had a more difficult qualifying after he could not run in the last half of FP3 due to a minor driveshaft-related issue. He recovered well to set the 12th quickest time in Q1 but just missed his optimum lap time in Q2 with traffic. He will start from 16th, directly behind Michael Schumacher.
Adrian Sutil (car 14): "I am quite happy about the qualifying performance today. We're very close to the top ten, which we didn't think we would be after this morning. We struggled to make the soft tyres work again and in the end went out in qualifying not really having a clear picture on performance, so 13th position is a good result. We know tomorrow will be tough as it's a hard place to overtake but our race pace is good. We will look to have a quick start, use strategy and pit stops to make a difference and try to gain as many positions as we can. I always think points are possible and I'll be going into the race pretty positive after this performance today."
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15): "We had some problems with a driveshaft boot* in the morning and didn't run the soft tyres so we went into qualifying not knowing completely how we would perform. However the balance was very easy and we looked positive in Q1, setting a good time fairly quickly. Unfortunately I hit traffic in Q2 and didn't get a clear lap, and then lost the rear in the last corner on my last lap. I was more than half a second faster until that point so we could have got a much better position for the start. Q3 would have been very difficult but for sure we are not in a position we should be. Tomorrow it's going to be difficult to overtake but there's always hope and with our race pace we're encouraged we can make up at least a couple of positions."
* The driveshaft boot is a component that stops grease leaking from the driveshaft
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: "A very good effort from the team and both drivers on a track we know doesn't completely suit us. It's very twisty and low grip and our strengths tend to be more to the quicker, flowing circuits. We knew it would be a tough weekend but we've put ourselves in a reasonable position for tomorrow's race. It's not ideal, but bearing in mind the small issues this morning, to be just two tenths from Q3 is a very encouraging result. The Hungaroring is a difficult place to overtake but it's not impossible and we will be trying to get as many positions back as we can to maintain our championship position."
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
FP3: 17th 1:22.918 (14 laps)
Q1: 17th 1:22.080 (10 laps)
Q2: 13th 1:21.517 (8 laps)
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
FP3: 18th 1:23.708 (8 laps)
Q1: 12th 1:21.789 (9 laps)
Q2: 16th 1:21.927 (8 laps)
