Driver errors ruin Force India's race
Force India had shown promise for a good race result as the beginning of the race unfolded well for both drivers. However, at the halfway mark, both drivers made errors and failed to capitalise on the performance. Adrian Sutil failed to finish while Paul Di Resta ended in 18th place
Paul Di Resta, VJM04/02, P18:
"The weather conditions were very bad today and given the intensity of the rain it was absolutely the right decision to stop the race. There were a lot of rivers running across the track and they were catching people out, even under safety car conditions. After the restart I think things were going well until I lost my front wing against Nick [Heidfeld] at the chicane when he cut across me. That gave me a drive-through penalty, which I was quite surprised to receive because it only really compromised me. After that I was coming back through the field and I was pushing to pass Rubens [Barrichello] in the final few laps. Unfortunately I pushed a bit too hard and clipped the wall, which gave me a puncture. That’s why I had to park the car. It’s a shame because we had a strong car today and we could have come away with some important points.”
Adrian Sutil, VJM04/04, DNF: “At the start of the race the visibility was extremely poor and there was very little grip. I had problems with the full wets so I switched to the intermediates quite early on, which were good for a few laps until the rain got too heavy. At the restart I was doing quite well until I got too close to Rosberg when the safety car was out. All the cars ahead of me slowed down a lot at the hairpin and I just got caught out, which damaged my front wing. But the car still felt okay and I didn’t lose too much time. After the drive-through penalty, I decided it was worth the risk of switching to dry tyres, but it was maybe a few laps too early. I had quite a big snap on my out lap and touched the wall, which broke the left rear suspension.”
Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Team Principal:
“A very long and eventful afternoon of racing where we didn’t realise our potential. We had a very quick car and both drivers were competitive, but the circumstances of the race did not go our way. Both drivers picked up damage to their front wings, without which I’m confident we could have come away with a double-points finish because the strategic calls from the pit wall were very good today. We will now go away and analyse our approach to the race so that we can come back stronger in Valencia”
