Force India Score In Spain, Hopeful For Monaco

iSport F1 Pitstop: Force India were back in the points in Spain and iSporter Prasad Rao is hopeful of yet another good performance in Monaco.

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At the Chinese Grand Prix, Force India for the first time this season failed to score a point. Adrian Sutil was 11th in that race which meant Force India lost out on points by a whisker. After a good three weeks break all the cars were back on the track of Barcelona to rub wheels. And of course, Force India had a promise to keep. Team Principal, Dr. Vijay Mallya had assured his fans that his team shall get back on the track with more aggressiveness, speed and power. During the practice sessions, timings were very much average, but both Sutil & Tonio Liuzzi got a good feel of the track. In the qualifying, Sutil finished a decent 11th whereas Liuzzi was 16th on the grid.

The race had a flavored touch of Red Bull dominance but for a change it was Mark Webber, not Sebastien Vettel, who went on to win the race. Force India picked up its fourth points-scoring position of the 2010 season in the first European race of the season. Sutil crossed the line in 7th position after a hard-fought race to score six points and bring Force India’s total points tally to 24. Adrian moved up four places from his starting position thanks to a great start off the line and then kept Robert Kubica’s Renault behind despite a strong challenge throughout the race. Liuzzi claimed 15th position, one place up on his grid slot, however was unlucky to stop on the final lap of the race when his VJM03 lost power through the middle sector.

Sutil had a dream race and it was ‘mission accomplished’ for the team altogether. The pace of the car signified the potential of Force India to fight for position and points. Moving from 11th to 8th is something the team could’ve only dreamed about in their past seasons. Also, Sutil was not that far behind the Ferrari of Massa for most of the race. While chasing Massa, Sutil also had to fend off a charging Robert Kubica for a large part of the race. In the end 7th position was a great success for the team as these points keep the momentum going and drives in all the needed motivation.

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For Liuzzi however, it was a race to forget. He had a decent start considering that he started from further down on the grid. He struggled with understeer and then snap oversteer on the first stint with the softer tyres. He lost a little time getting away from the pit stop but then the balance with the hard tyres just got better. It was though too late for the Italian then. The best learning here would be the determination which kept him going on with decent timings.

Adrian had a faultless race and kept calm under a lot of pressure from closest rivals Renault and he thoroughly deserved those points. For Tonio the weekend was a difficult from the start, but he did as much as he could from his starting position. After starting the season with some good finishes, Liuzzi has fallen behind and Sutil has turned the tide with better finishes and pace. Monaco is the trickiest circuit and overtaking is next to impossible so again here pace will play a pivotal role during the qualifying as the grid positions could go on to determine the post race positions as well.

Being back to back racing weekend, the much needed adrenaline is pumped in the drivers to get going and finish at the apex. Monaco is Sutil’s one of the favorite racetracks. Liuzzi shall move onto Monaco with more confidence and keep his Spanish disappointment aside and look to grow his record in Monaco. He must be hungry to get back into the points. There’s only a week to go now and everything to look forward to.

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