Force India: Di Resta claims best result yet

2011 Singapore GP team review

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Sixth and eighth was the team’s best two-car result since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.

The team tightened their grasp on sixth in the constructors championship and may even entertain thoughts of passing Renault for fifth.

With five Grands Prix remaining there’s 22 points between them and Force India have out-scored them 36-5 over the last five races.

Adrian SutilPaul di Resta
Qualifying position910
Qualifying time comparison (None)
Race position86
Laps60/6161/61
Pit stops22

Force India drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061
Adrian Sutil126.155117.932117.094117.274117.373116.931116.606117.148117.375118.976124.623140.234117.494119.286116.236116.584116.245116.567116.3116.45116.246116.78117.215116.555116.54118.117116.699117.209134.59163.983123.333120.703145.885118.314119.203116.295117.438115.496115.21115.3114.843114.61114.96115.071114.564114.942115.321115.16115.284114.996116.104116.175116.165116.573117.238117.148117.4117.969119.084120.364
Paul di Resta127.636118.606118.075117.431117.449116.738116.67116.75116.704117.587117.689116.858117.378117.542118.173117.276117.543118.245125.824138.324115.507115.819115.529116.158115.725115.914115.146115.521133.104161.478129.087120.331147.827118.552118.814115.766114.624114.707115.835114.644114.239114.603114.839114.455114.311114.828115.024115.071115.463115.15115.493115.434116.464115.668115.839116.292117.337117.319118.679119.276123.454

Adrian Sutil

Start tyreSuper soft
Pit stop 1Soft 30.718s
Pit stop 2Soft 33.418s

Sutil qualified ninth and held position as the race started. He switched to soft tyres at his first pit stop and his team mate shortly appeared behind him running the softer tyres.

He was made aware of Di Resta’s different strategy and let his team mate go without a fight on lap 26.

But that compromised him when the safety car came out three laps later. The pair pitted together and Sutil, who was second to arrive, lost time as he was held in his box as another car came past, and fell behind Nico Rosberg.

He ran behind Rosberg until the end, losing one place to Lewis Hamilton: “The final stint was quite difficult because I had to do about 30 laps on the soft tyres.

“I had Perez close behind me and then Massa was closing in fast on the final lap. Fortunately I had enough to hold on to eighth.”

Adrian Sutil 2011 form guide

Paul di Resta

Paul di Resta, Force India, Singapore, 2011
Start tyreSoft
Pit stop 1Super soft 30.704s
Pit stop 2Soft 29.764s

An alternative tyre strategy helped Di Resta to his best career result so far.

He started on soft tyres and kept within range of Sutil, who was on super-softs. Sutil eased his path after Di Resta changed to super softs on lap 19.

His first stint on super softs was cut short by the safety car and he switched to soft tyres to run to the end of the race.

Hamilton took fifth place off him but sixth was still his best result so far.

Afterwards he said: “I don’t think the safety car really helped us because I still had a lot of life left in the super soft tyres in the middle of the race, but it didn’t really hurt us either.

“After that it was a case of managing my pace to Rosberg, looking after the tyres and bringing the car home. I was in free air for the final part of the race, which helped, and the pace was strong.

“It’s probably my best race of the season, but it’s the result of all the hard work behind the scenes. We came here with an upgrade package that has allowed us to gain performance in the race, gain tyre life, and we saw the benefits of that today.”

Paul di Resta 2011 form guide

2011 Singapore Grand Prix

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    Image © Force India F1 Team

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    43 comments on “Force India: Di Resta claims best result yet”

    1. If they keep performing this well & renault continues to perform as bad as in singapore..P5 seems to be not very far away..

    2. Any idea what difference its makes monetarily if the team finishes fifth instead of sixth in the constructors championship?? Would love to know that!!!

      1. They get more money from the television rights. How much money I don’t know, but surely the difference is enough for them to want it!

        1. I guess it might be a difference in the region of 10-20 million even.

        2. Plus, being the best of the rest behind the Big Four is a pretty great achievement for Force India.

          1. It certainly is. Surely that would be a record for them?

            1. If you’re counting Force India’s previous incarnations, no. Jordan finished 3rd in the 1999 season and Frentzen had a shout in the title race. But Force India’s best result is 7th, in 2010.

      2. It would be their best result ever, and it would be a good season or both Sutil and di Resta. The higher, the better :D

    3. @Fer no.65 thanks a lots mate…guess we ill have to buy a copy of Formula Money to know the exact amount!!

    4. It is great to see 2 FI’s in points simultaneously and both drivers working together for the team.

      I hope that FI will be able to bypass Renault in Constructor’s championship with a couple of circuits which will suit FI.

      I tried to find the details of upgradation that FI brought this weekend but couldn’t find any details. If somebody has the details of the same, kindly share.

      1. Imagine having two Force Indias in the points for India? And with one or two Indian drivers doing well (compared to normal) in other teams.

        1. And well done to Paul, finishing in the top 6 for the first time.

    5. Congrats to Adrian for passing Koba in the standings… Both Renault drivers are now within reach!

    6. Good strategy, good race-pace. Funny to see how much the 2011 FI differs from the low-downforce 2009 car. This car is much more designed for slow tracks like this one in Singapore. Good to see Di Resta’s tyre “gamble” work, although I was affraid his first pitstop was too early for a decent 2-stop strategy. Luckily he was able to complete a half race-distance on his final set of tyres.

    7. Love to see Force India performing so well. To think that they were clear backmakers just 3 seasons ago. It’s impressive how good they got in almost no time.

      I’m becoming a fan of them…

      1. In 2009 they were steadily improving from backmarker to one of the fastest cars on the grid. Last year however, they quite badly dropped to nearly the back of the grid, so I think their recovery is impressive, but not as impressive as their late-2009 form.

        1. nope your 100% wrong! force india have been improving evry year since 2009. Did you not see where force india i.e Sutil were doing last year? finishing in the top majority of time!

          this team is improving hell of alot but its thanks to mclaren who provide the back end of the car.

          Well done force india

          1. meant top ten!!

      2. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they’re the pleasant surprise of the season for me.

        After losing James Key and Mark Smith I was expecting them to have a tough season – certainly not looking increasingly secure in sixth place in the constructors’ championship. And if they can take fifth that would be a massive result for them.

        1. Same for me Keith, I feared they would fall back even, following the trend of 2010.
          It really impresses and pleases me to see them where they are now.

          A few races back I laughed at the idea of them actually hunting down Renault for 5th, but now its not that far a target any more.

    8. to my mind this is di resta’s first points finish and a very good drive indeed. this is not to denigrate his previous drives, but i do mean to impugn those who laud “points finishes” in the same way that they/we did when points were only available to the top 6.

      imagine that, for example, jean alesi had finished 9th or 10th on his debut; it would not be remembered now, whereas his 4th is rightly remembered as a stunning debut. similarly, hamilton, jacques villeneuve and the ultimate, giancarlo baghetti.

      1. You had alot more retirements back then though. Now we have races where all 24 cars cross the line. The new points system reflects the increase in reliability, infact all new points systems since the original have done that.

        1. It used to be a lot easier to finish in 6th place at any point in a season back then…

    9. I’m sure he will be at Mercedes when Shumacher retire again.

      1. I can’t see any other destiny for him to be honest. Him and Rosberg would make for a brilliant line-up. Brawn really needs to pull his finger out with the team as i’m sure Paul will have other interest at least.

    10. paul continues to impress.

      1. And also the last driver on the lead lap, admittedly that was mainly due to the safety car wiping out 30 seconds of Vettel’s lead.

    11. Excellently played race by Di Resta, stayed cool and didn’t flap and get excited about being on television when Alonso and Hamilton (twice) came through. Also good on Sutil for letting Di Resta past, good teamwork, Di Resta did it a couple of times earlier in the season, good to see it reciprocated

    12. Both Force India’s did very well this weekend to score in the points – they really have a good chance of beating Renault in the Constructors Championship!!

      Di Resta is definitely the best rookie by far for me! I can’t wait to see him getting on the podium, I’m sure that it’s inevitable!

      1. I agree that di rasta is by far the best rookie.But podium is still not realistic even though they are improving they dont hav the pace to match top teams,the best they can hope for is strong point finishes and both the driver in top ten consistently.Look at who finished above di rasta,even sixth feels like a podium to him.Great drive by him and for a change luck was on his side this time

    13. This race will sure keep Di Resta glue to his seat for 2012,another thing is that they raced well between team-mates as Sutil let Paul pass as the later had a better car.They did managed the things well on Sunday.

    14. The biggest surprise is that force india doing well at high downforce circuits like singapore and monaco.

    15. A car that performs pretty decent at all circuits in the f1 calender, even though it lost some pace at spa and monza, due to its added downforce.

    16. If I was a Ferrari boss and Mercedes doesn’t retire Schumi at the end of this season and promote Di Resta into that space, I would offer him Massa’s seat for next year.

    17. But DI resta is backed by mclaren, he is supposed to join mclaren is seasons to come i think but FI will not give away DI RESTA easily.

      1. Paul Di Resta is a Mercedes man, he came to F1 from Mercedes DTM team.

        1. ya i was wrong it was mercedes

    18. Well done to Paul for getting into the top 6, Singapore would’ve been his first point if he was racing in 2002.

    19. Fantastic result for the team and congratulations to Paul. Really hope he keeps this up, his head seems very much in the right place and he won’t get ahead of himself.

    20. Lucas Alexander Munro
      3rd October 2011, 9:22

      Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t Di Resta the only rookie to have earned his way into F1 and not paid for his seat? Because Perez has Telmex, Maldonado has PDVSA, D’Ambrosio brought in a few Belgian sponsors and Ricciardo’s chance came through Red Bull paying HRT to run him. Don’t get me wrong, all of them are pretty talented, especcially Di Resta and Perez (And I would say Ricciardo because I met him once, his friend claimed him to be ‘the next Lewis Hamilton, but I need to see him in a Toro Rosso) but Di Resta really did earn his seat, and rightfully so, he is giving Sutil a real run for his money.

      1. I don’t think you can crudely separate them into “deserving” drivers and “pay-drivers”.

        Di Resta, Perez and Maldonado have support from sponsors Whyte & MacKay, Telmex and PDVSA respectively.

        Does that mean they don’t have their places on merit? Di Resta is an F3 and DTM champion, Maldonado is a GP2 champion and Perez is a GP2 runner-up. And all are acquitting themselves pretty well this year.

        I think they’ve all earned a chance to be in F1. I don’t think you can point to any of them and say “he’s only in F1 because of his sponsor”.

        1. Petrov is another example of a pay driver. Renault signed him in 2010 not just because of the money he would bring in, but his potential too. And he has delivered, and against Kubica too, which is impressive.

          Pérez, Di Resta and in the last few races Maldonado have all been there or there abouts with their teammates. It’s a really good batch of drivers coming through GP2 and even series like DTM. I’ve been impressed on some occasions by all 3.

        2. i guess Schumacher was a pay driver too, but that does not mean the driver has no talent or is inferior to any other driver on the track… if there is talent, it will shine… pay driver or no pay driver.

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