07/06/2009
NEWS STORY
The Force India Formula One Team's Adrian Sutil has finished a hot and physically demanding Turkish Grand Prix in 17th position. Giancarlo Fisichella unfortunately retired on the fourth lap of the race as a result of a brake problem he had been suffering most of the weekend.
Adrian had a competitive first stint on the hard tyres and had moved up to 11th before his first stop on lap 20. Remaining on the hard tyres for the second part of the race, Adrian held station just behind McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and kept Rubens Barrichello at bay until his second and final stop on lap 36. The German switched to the soft tyre for the remaining part of the race to finish 17th.
Force India will now look forward to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone - just opposite the team's factory - where a new aero upgrade is anticipated.
Adrian Sutil: Perhaps we had hoped for more from 15th on the grid. I lost a couple of places at the start but was able to get them back quickly. The race pace was quite good though and I could have some exciting battles on track with a McLaren and a Brawn, which was great. It was not a real problem with Barrichello: he touched me once through a corner but I was just defending position. It was an interesting race, the car balance and the race pace were pretty good. Only the result was not as we would have liked, but it's been quite a positive weekend overall.
Giancarlo Fisichella: I have had a few problems with the braking this weekend. We changed all the brake systems to see if it made any difference but it was actually worse today as the car was almost completely locked. I had a good start and in the beginning of the race I was quite competitive with the cars around me but then unfortunately the brake pedal was getting longer and longer and we decided to come back in to the pits. We tried to see if we could get back out again but in the end it was very risky and we had to retire. It's a shame as I enjoy this race but I've just had terrible luck at the track!
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: I think we hoped for slightly more from this race, but the overall weekend performance has consolidated the steps forward we took in Monaco. We've got through to Q2 for the second race in a row and Adrian drove a very competitive race, particularly on his first and second stints. Unfortunately Giancarlo retired very early on with a brake problem he had had during several of the earlier sessions. We can be encouraged by this team performance however and also in the knowledge that we have some significant upgrades coming through for Silverstone in a couple of weeks' time.