Spa, 25 Aug 2013: It was mixed fortunes for Sahara Force India as Adrian Sutil raced to ninth place in the Belgian Grand Prix, while Paul Di Resta failed to finish after being hit by Pastor Maldonado on lap 27 in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps here on Sunday. Though the Indian outfit managed to get back into points after a couple of disappointing races, the midfield team who were in 5th place before the start of the race lost vital points to McLaren and lost the position.
The Sahara Force India team slid to 6th position and now have 61 points, four less than McLaren, who moved to 5th place with Jenson Button finishing 6th today.
Adrian Sutil finished P9 to get valuable two points to the team and increased his tally to 25. After the race Adrian said: “An interesting and exciting race, and it’s good to come away with two points. At the start I didn’t make the best getaway and lost a few places, but after that I settled into the race and was able to get ahead of a few cars and move into the top ten. I always enjoy driving here at Spa and I had some exciting overtaking moves today, which felt very nice. The two-stop strategy was the best way to go and it worked out well because I think we achieved the maximum that was available to us. We are still in a close fight with McLaren so it was important to get back in the points today after a couple of tough races.”
However, Paul Di Resta, who remains on 36 points was disappointed today. Yesterday, he almost made it to pole but with rain receding, the big guns caught up in the last few minutes of qualifying. Paul, who had a DNF today said: “I got a lot of wheel-spin at the start of the race and was down in about tenth place going into turn one, but during the first lap I managed to recover to seventh. After the second pit stop I was racing closely with Adrian and there was a train of four cars battling as we went into the final chicane. Pastor [Maldonado] went in deep and missed the apex so I tried to get the cut-back and was going around the outside of him. He then decided to try and enter the pit lane, which was impossible given his track position. As a result he hit me, which took the rear corner off my car. It’s a real shame because the speed was quite strong today and I think there was definitely a point or two up for grabs.”
Team Principal and Managing Director Vijay Mallya, however was happy that the team was back in points He said:
“I’m pleased to see Sahara Force India back in the points after a fine performance by Adrian. He clearly enjoyed himself out there today and his overtaking moves were a highlight of the race. The strategy calls from the pit wall helped him stay in the hunt for points and his race pace was good. The incident with Maldonado hitting Paul was very disappointing because Paul was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It certainly cost us the chance to get both cars in the points. Going forward we will take the positives from the weekend and look to build on this performance level in a couple of weeks’ time in Monza.”
ends
Adrian Sutil finished 9th to get back Sahara Force India into points but the team fell back to 6th place behind McLaren. A SFI photo
