Problem forces Liuzzi back to the garage, Sutil qualifies 11th
The Force India F1 Team's Adrian Sutil will start tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix from 11th position following one of the tightest qualifying sessions so far this year. Adrian eased into Q2 but just missed out on a Q3 slot for the second consecutive race by only a couple of hundredths of a second. He will line up on the clean side of the grid alongside Michael Schumacher.
Tonio Liuzzi endured a frustrating qualifying, completing just three laps in Q1 when his VJM03 lost drive on his out lap. Unfortunately the problem proved too difficult to rectify within the qualifying session and Tonio was forced to end his session early without setting a competitive lap time. He will start 20th but should be able to rapidly make up positions given the pace demonstrated on longer runs yesterday.
Adrian Sutil (car 14): "The times have been so close today that we knew qualifying would be tight as well. All the same we were very, very near to getting into Q3 - just a couple of hundredths of a second - so we can be happy with the performance. Starting P11 means we will get to start on a new set of tyres and the clean side of the grid, which can be an advantage. I think we're still looking good for a points' finish tomorrow."
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15): "We had a problem in the morning's session where the car seemed to lose drive and did just a few laps. We did some analysis between the sessions and tried to solve the problem but then in qualifying a similar issue occurred. On the first lap we lost power and then we had to stop completely once I got it back to the garage so I couldn't get a real flying lap in. It's a shame but tomorrow's the most important - we've got a good car here and you never know what can happen so we won't give up until the end."
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: "It's been such a close day of action today that I think we can be pretty pleased to be P11 with Adrian, less than a tenth of a second from Q3. From that position anything's possible as we've seen so many times this season. Tonio had a more difficult day with problems in FP3 and then qualifying, which is obviously frustrating on his home track. However he's a fighter and more motivated than ever to move up the field. Given the pace yesterday I think that is very possible."
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
FP3: 10th 1:23.303 (19 laps)
Q1: 8th 1:23.493 (7 laps)
Q2: 11th 1:23.199 (9 laps)
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
FP3: 18th 1:24.439 (15 laps)
Q1: 20th 1:25.774 (3 laps)
