Sutil finishes in front of Toro Rosso duo
A tough Turkish Grand Prix yielded one finish for the Force India Formula One Team, with Adrian Sutil coming home in 16th position overall. Giancarlo Fisichella's race was brought to an end by the first corner when, after a good start, the Italian unfortunately ran into the rear of Nakajima's Williams, causing irreparable suspension damage.
Adrian also made a good start, however a Toro Rosso shut the door on him through turn five and damaged his front wing, forcing him to pit to change the nosecone. With the safety car deployed to clear the stricken cars from the startline accident, Adrian rejoined at the rear of the field. In his first pit stop on lap 21 he jumped the two Toro Rosso cars and started to close the gap to the group in front by more than one second a lap and, by his second stop on lap 38, was just under seven seconds behind Rubens Barrichello's Honda. He fell back behind Vettel after the stop however regained the position later in the race when Vettel had a problem in his own pit stop. Despite Vettel putting him under intense pressure in the latter stage of the race, Adrian held onto secure 16th place.
The race team now moves straight to Monaco for the sixth Grand Prix of the year in just over one week's time, where Giancarlo will celebrate his 200th race start. Prior to the race the test team will travel to the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France for a three day test from 14 - 16 May.
Adrian Sutil: "At the start I saw Giancarlo going straight over Nakajima and there was debris all over the track, so by turns three and four there were cars all over the place. I had some damage on the front wing when another driver touched me through turn five so had to come in to change the nosecone. Luckily the safety car was out and I didn't lose too much time. During the race my balance was not perfect and I had a lot of understeer I couldn't get rid of, but the middle stint was good as I was catching the group in front. At the end of the race I could keep Vettel behind me so was at least it was one position gained."
Giancarlo Fisichella: "I made a good start but then under braking Bourdais changed direction twice and I couldn't brake in time and went into the back of the Williams. I am already looking forward to Monaco. It's my favourite track and I've had some good results there so I have to leave this result behind and concentrate on the next race."
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: "Obviously our race became very difficult after the first three corners with Giancarlo going off at the first corner and Adrian losing his front wing. With the safety car we were able to get Adrian back out and his first couple of stints were good, particularly the middle one when he was staying with the group in front. He was pretty consistent, but once we started to get blue flags it was difficult to keep the temperature in the tyres and that made the last stint very difficult. It was however very important for Adrian to get a race finish today, which he did. We now move onto the next race in Monaco, a track that both drivers have performed well on."
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director: "After the high of our first top 10 finish in Spain, this weekend was always going to be difficult to measure up. Sure enough it was a challenge in many respects, but I still feel there are positives to take away. We had been quite open about our difficulties in replicating free practice pace in qualifying, but I was happy to see this trend had been reversed here in Turkey. It was also important for Adrian to get to the chequered flag today, both for himself and for the team, and he had a strong race after he got back out after his accident on the first lap. His middle stint was encouraging as he caught the midfield and, on his final set of tyres, he was able to keep Vettel behind him despite the sustained pressure. Of course it is always a shame to see one of our cars out before the first lap, but as I have said before, you have to take risks: this is motor racing. Let's now look forward to Monaco now that both drivers love and have performed well on. It will be a good opportunity for us to challenge the teams in front."
