Sutil Scores For Force India

iSport F1 Pitstop: Force India have managed to score points in all the 3 GPs this season. In Malaysia, it was Adrian Sutil who led the team home in a strong 5th place. iSporter Prasad Rao dissects his race.

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After two rounds of decent performances by Force India, Sepang raised the expectation bar in the minds of all Force India fans. Malaysia having a prominent Indian connection due to its proximity as well as the hordes of Indian immigrants resulted in roaring support for Force India. Indian film celebrity Shah Rukh Khan was present during the qualifying rounds who also made a surprise visit to meet Karun Chandhok in his HRT garage.

Sunday displayed some enthralling racing with Red Bull finishing on the top. Red Bull has been on pole position for all the three races of 2010 till now. This 100 percent record in qualifying finally got an icing on the cake with a one-two finish in the race too. Sebastian Vettel stormed to his first win of the year. Coupled with Mark Webber’s second place, the result means the Milton Keynes-based team are very much back in the fight for the title. Mercedes GP had mixed race with Michael Schumacher having to retire with engine issues but his team mate Nico Rosberg finished the race in third place. But as usual, what mattered the most to me was where Force India was.

The Force India F1 Team’s points haul continued in the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit as Adrian Sutil raced strongly to fifth place and grabbed ten points. Adrian drove a flawless race, keeping the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton at bay in the closing stages of the race to secure his best finish since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix and bringing the team’s total points this year to 18. Sutil drove magnificently devoid of mistakes, and proved to his critics that he was more than capable of beating his former Formula3 team mate Hamilton when the McLaren driver seemed poised to snatch fifth place. It was a great performance that made up for his disappointments in Bahrain and Australia where he had failed to snatch a point.

However, Sutil’s team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi failed to finish this race after having successfully secured points in both the initial races. Liuzzi’s chances of scoring points were dashed after 13 laps when his Mercedes engine began to lose power.
The race was exciting and to finish in fifth place was definitely an achievement. It was a good overall performance from the team. Sutil held his nerve pretty well as he held off a fast charging Hamilton in the closing stages. His rock solid focus and his determination saw him through.

Liuzzi had a good start from tenth place and was in seventh place and had good race pace, even though he was stuck behind Hulkenberg in the Williams. He struggled to pass him but whole team was optimistic with the response the car was giving. Unfortunately, a throttle problem after 12 laps resulted in end of Liuzzi’s hopes of scoring a hat-trick of a points finish.

The team principal Dr. Vijay Mallya was a delighted personality. He was happy with the result as after three races his team have scored points consistently. He was deeply impressed with Adrian’s performance in keeping a cool head under pressure when a charging Lewis Hamilton was right on his tail. He was sorry for Liuzzi not finishing but hoped both the drivers shall soon finish in points in the same race which is yet to happen.
It was tougher day for Ferrari and McLaren. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button had to be content with a combined haul of just 12 points, while Fernando Alonso’s engine troubles will be a cause for concern in Ferrari. Considering all this Force India had a great racing weekend. Sutil qualified in the 4th position after good practice timings. Liuzzi also had decent practice timings. He started 10th on the grid. Both the drivers made it to Q3 which is a significant motivation for the team in the coming races. Now, let’s wait and watch how Mallya’s boys carry this forward to China. Force India drivers are definitely good top 10 competitors and consistency in Q3, points & speed timings are just signals of this team growing from here on. See you guys in two weeks time in China.