Despite missing out on a points placed finished, Giancarlo Fisichella praised the efforts of his team after a strong weekend for Force India. The Italian finished in a credible ninth place, pushing Sebastien Buemi hard in the latter stages of the race.
Adrian Sutil finished in fourteenth after suffering from tyre wear.
Adrian Sutil – 14th: “We had started on a one-stop strategy, which would have been OK but we used the supersoft tyre from the start and they grained up very quickly. I had to pit and lost a lot of time there. That was it really – it was hard to come back from this. In the end I was doing some quick laps and had quite a good pace, so there are some positives and we can be happy at some aspects. There is more to come from us for sure.”
Giancarlo Fisichella – 9th: “Ninth position is a great result for the team. The pace was very good and consistent and I felt I was driving well, taking care of the tyres and putting in some fast laps at the same time. I just lost a position at the start and perhaps it was this that cost me the point in the end, but we have to be happy about today. It was a great step forward, to get two cars into Q2 and then to get within two seconds of a point. We need to keep pushing and be there all the time now.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: “This has been a very encouraging weekend all round. We got two cars into Q2 and finished within a whisker of the points; and all on merit. We’ve incremented our performance and raced it well this weekend, and we know we have more upgrades in the pipeline, which is a great motivating factor. I would like to say thank you to both drivers for keeping focussed and pushing so hard and to the entire team at the track and at the factory for keeping the momentum going. If we continue on the path we have now laid before us, I am certain we’ll achieve the success we all deserve.”
