Sutil to start from 17th following brake disc failure
Qualifying at the Circuit of The Americas saw Sahara Force India's Paul Di Resta qualify in P12 for the United States Grand Prix. Adrian Sutil will line up in P17 after a technical issue hampered his chances.
Paul Di Resta, VJM06-04, 12th: “I’m reasonably happy with today’s result because this is a track that does not particularly suit my driving style. The wind picked up quite a bit before qualifying, which made the conditions tricky and I think we made the most of that. We out-qualified some quick cars today and in the end I was just a tenth away from making Q3. I was planning to go for a final quick lap in Q2, but I came across Lewis [Hamilton] on my out lap, who was cooling his tyres. It meant my out lap was compromised so we aborted the run. We can make a free choice on tyres tomorrow and we’ve shown recently that our performance on race day has been our strength. If we can make a good start and optimise the strategy, then points will be within reach.”
Adrian Sutil, VJM06-03, 17th: “It’s a disappointing result today. The car has been quick through all the sessions, but things didn’t go to plan today. I had to overtake a lot of traffic on my quick lap in Q1, including a Marussia going into the final corner, and that cost me the chance of making Q2. I then started another lap and suffered a brake disc failure on the front right, which ended the session for me. So I’m starting in P17 and I just hope we can do something with the strategy to try and get up into the points tomorrow.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “A mixed qualifying result for Sahara Force India. Paul had a good session and made a big improvement between final practice and qualifying. He’s put himself in a strong position to race for points tomorrow. Adrian was unlucky with traffic compromising his best opportunity in Q1. His final chance of a quick lap ended with a brake disc failure on the front right corner, which resulted in a puncture. It’s unfortunate because he was not able to show the true speed of the car. The task for us now is to try use the strategy to bring him into contention for points.”
