Dr Vijay Mallya has paid tribute to both of his Force India drivers after achieving the team’s best result of the season.
Both drivers just missed out on the points, with Adrian Sutil in tenth and Giancarlo Fisichella two places back in twelfth.
Fisichella, in particular, expressed his pleasure at Force India’s rate of development this season. The Italian is now certain that if the team maintains the same amount of commitment, then points will soon follow.
Adrian Sutil – 10th: “Today was a good performance with no mistakes, good lap times and we showed a clear step forward. I think tenth was the maximum we could do from 12th position on the grid. It was a very tough race, very hot, but everything worked perfectly.
“I was behind the two BMWs for my first stint and couldn’t get past on the track but the team did a really good stop and I could pass Heidfeld in the pitlane. I’m really looking forward to Spa now – I love the track and with the pace we’ve shown this weekend it’s looking promising for a good result there.”
Giancarlo Fisichella – 12th: “It was a difficult race as the grid position was not as good as we had hoped so we used a one-stop strategy, which gave us an opportunity to gain some positions. I made a very good start, keeping clear of the collision and was running in 13th at the end of the first lap, right behind Adrian.
“The first stint on the hard tyres was very consistent with a good pace. Then we changed to the soft tyres and it was a bit tricky as there was some graining. I could keep a good pace though I had to watch the tyres to keep them until the end. Twelfth is a good result for us. We made a few positions and now seem to be ahead of Toyota and some other cars. We need another step like we made this weekend and we can easily score points.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: “Overall it’s been a strong performance for us all weekend and probably our most competitive race in two seasons. The upgrades we introduced this race have clearly given us a big step forward and we’re now really mixing it in the midfield positions. I’d like to say thanks to all the team back at Silverstone who have worked very hard to get the development through, and to the drivers for doing it justice. I can’t wait to get to Belgium now.”
