19/07/2008
NEWS STORY
The Force India Formula One Team will start tomorrow's German Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella in 19th and 20th positions respectively following a tough Qualifying today at the Hockenheimring.
Rain fell in the minutes before the start, however eased up just before the session got underway. In the subsequent dry, but very windy conditions, the Force India duo completed three runs in the first 20 minute segment of the session, however their fastest laps were hampered; Adrian's by understeer through the final turn that sent him wide, and Giancarlo's by traffic.
The team will now look to tomorrow's 67 lap Grand Prix for an upturn of fortune with its improved race pace performance.
Adrian Sutil: 'I'm a bit disappointed to be honest with this qualifying as I think we could have done a bit better. My second run was looking good, the car felt well balanced and I was comfortable, but then I ran a little bit wide on the last corner going into the straight and lost a couple of tenths. My last run was not so good as the balance had changed a little, but I did improve a bit, just not enough. It's a shame, but as we look better in race conditions we will see for tomorrow.'
Giancarlo Fisichella: 'We did three runs today, and on my fastest lap I hit some traffic in the last sector and couldn't record the time I think we could have done round here, so I'm quite disappointed. Of course we don't know what's going to happen in the race tomorrow, there are some overtaking possibilities at this track so we can try and make up some places like this.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: 'Giancarlo struggled really for balance all day and the windier conditions in qualifying upset the car a little bit, while Adrian had similar problems and ran wide on one of his quicker laps. We did expect to be closer to the group in front, but once again we know we have a stronger race pace relative to the others so we have to look for more tomorrow.'
Dr. Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director: 'Throughout the season we have never demonstrated a good qualifying pace, however we have always shown a good race pace. I'm therefore looking forward to showing this tomorrow.'