04/10/2009
NEWS STORY
The Force India Formula One Team has finished the Japanese Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil in 13th position and Tonio Liuzzi just under a second behind in 14th.
Adrian, who had qualified in fourth but had started in eighth position following yesterday's round of penalties, was able to move up to seventh on the opening lap ahead of Nico Rosberg, but on lap four dropped back to ninth behind Kovalainen. The pair raced nose to tail until Adrian finally moved alongside the Finn on lap 13 going into the chicane. Heikki however refused to yield and the pair touched, sending Adrian into a spin and back down the order to 12th. From that point on Adrian's race was compromised and despite racing hard with the Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella he crossed the line in a disappointing 13th overall.
Tonio Liuzzi enjoyed a series of battles over the 53 lap race to achieve his second consecutive race finish for Force India. Using a two stop strategy Tonio was able to move up four places on his starting position after battling with the two Renaults, the Williams of Nakajima and Alguersuari's Toro Rosso.
Adrian Sutil: It was a really disappointing race. The start was OK and I could keep my position but then I fell back to ninth and was caught behind Kovalainen. I got past him at the chicane but then he cut back across and I spun and lost a lot of time. That was really the end of the race for me. When that happens it's obviously very disappointing as I thought we could have done really well today and got some points. We've just got to look forward to Brazil now - it's a similar type of circuit to here where the car has been competitive.
Tonio Liuzzi: Overall I think it was not a bad race. Starting from that position it was always going to be difficult to score points but we showed a strong pace in the race and never gave up. I could have a really good fight with Fernando [Alonso] and the Williams, plus also the Toro Rosso so I think it was a good effort from the team.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: We had expected a better result from this race, particularly given Adrian's excellent performance in qualifying fourth yesterday. The penalty cost us dear as Adrian was behind the heavier Rosberg and then dropped back behind Kovalainen early on. Adrian's race was then compromised when he tried to get past the McLaren but he nevertheless demonstrated that the car is performing very well in race conditions and we are able to race competitively with the top teams. Tonio too had a strong race to secure his second finish in three events. His confidence is now high and we should look forward to the next race in Brazil where we hope we can capitalise on the pace we have showed over the weekend. Hopefully next time we can get the results to prove it.