Force India expect trickiness to continue in race
The wet weather continued at Interlagos as Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil qualified in 12th and 16th places respectively for tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Paul Di Resta, VJM06-04, 12th: “The wet conditions have made for a very difficult weekend so far and I was only able to complete very limited running in the build-up to qualifying. So we’ve pretty much stuck with the set-up we decided on before coming here, which will hopefully help us tomorrow if the conditions improve and we get a dry track. If it is dry there will be a lot of unknowns, especially with the tyres on a green track, and there’s the possibility that we can take advantage of that. If it’s wet then we are in a good position to race for points because our performance in the wet this weekend has been a step forward compared with earlier in the year. We will keep pushing and hopefully tomorrow we will be smiling after the race.”
Adrian Sutil, VJM06-03, 16th: “A very tricky session and the best conditions were right at the start of Q1. After that the conditions gradually became worse and worse for everyone. So in Q2 there was only one real opportunity to set your time, which was at the start of the session. I stayed out to see if the rain eased off, but when Perez had his accident the yellow flags came out so I pitted. The main issue was the lack of grip and I didn’t have the confidence to really push. It looks like I will start P16 tomorrow, but we know it’s a long race and it’s uncertain what the weather will do. The races here in Brazil can be very unusual and unpredictable so we never give up and will keep pushing until the last lap.”
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: “The wet weather continued today with conditions getting gradually worse as the qualifying hour unfolded. We judged Q1 pretty well with Paul and Adrian completing solid laps on the intermediates before the rain became heavier. It was a similar situation in Q2 with the rain continuing to fall. We sent both cars out as soon as the lights went green and Paul ended up just three tenths away from making Q3. Adrian was struggling slightly more and didn’t have the confidence as the track got wetter. There’s still a big question mark about the weather tomorrow and I think we can expect another unpredictable race whatever happens. The priority is to make sure we keep out of trouble and do what we need to secure our position in the Constructors’ championship.”
