Adrian Sutil says that he will go into the Turkish Grand Prix with great confidence, as the German driver overcame practice woes to narrowly miss out on a place in the top-ten shootout.
The Force India had been forced to miss out on running in this morning’s third practice session after a hydraulic problem on his car. However, the 27-year-old was still able to make it into Q2 where he secured eleventh place on the grid – and the chance to start on the cleaner side of the start/finish straight.
However, team-mate Tonio Liuzzi suffered a poor qualifying session, as the Italian found himself eliminated in Q1 after struggling to find grip.
Adrian Sutil – 11th: “This morning I couldn’t do any running because of a hydraulic problem on the car and as we had some problems yesterday as well, I didn’t really know what to expect out there in qualifying as I hadn’t done so many laps before. All the same we had a good balance on the car and I was quite happy with the final lap time. We were very close to Q3 again, just under a tenth, so I think it’s all open for tomorrow. Eleventh on the grid, and the good side as well, I think we can be very confident. It will be a tough race with the heat but I think we have a good chance to score some points again.”
Tonio Liuzzi – 18th: “We didn’t get the most from qualifying today and should have been in a better position. We have been struggling with the grip since the start of the weekend and had a pretty similar issue to Barcelona. We don’t seem to have the right balance or get the tyres to work, particularly at the rear of the car. We are trying a couple of things and once it is sorted we will be competitive for sure, so it’s not worth dwelling on today. The new switchable rear wing has been a big step forward so we can be pretty confident about the race. So although it’s disappointing for now, tomorrow we should be able to move up the field and do as much as we can.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: “It’s been a difficult weekend with various issues to contend with, but it’s tomorrow that counts. Adrian is still in a very good position, on the clean side of the track and able to run new tyres, and he has scored points from further down the field before. Tonio also has the use of our new SRW device and should be able to make the most of it on the longer straight here. So, overall, we can remain positive and look to make the most of whatever comes our way.”
