Di Resta feels “robbed of seventh place”

2013 Australian Grand Prix

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Paul di Resta said he was pleased Force India scored seventh and eighth place in the Australian Grand Prix but believed he should have been the driver in seventh place.

“I feel a bit robbed of a seventh place given the way our strategy was and where I was in the final stages of that Grand Prix,” he said after the race.

Di Resta finished behind team mate Adrian Sutil who was struggling with his super-soft tyres in the final stint.

“Seventh and eighth for the team is quite good it’s just a shame really we got stuck behind Jenson [Button] on a three-stop at the beginning of my second stint. And essentially that’s what loses you a lot of track position.”

However he said the car’s performance and how easy it was on its tyres gave him optimism for next week’s race at Sepang. “We’ve got some things we need to pick up on, definitely improvements, but we’ve come here with quite a strong car.”

“Already we can do a stop less than some cars so relatively hopeful for a high degradation place like Malaysia that we can hopefully go there and do something positive again.”

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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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    90 comments on “Di Resta feels “robbed of seventh place””

    1. If he wanted the seventh place he should’ve taken it.

      A great race for Sutil, it’s a real shame they put the super-softs under him or he might’ve been higher.

      1. it’s a real shame they put the super-softs under him or he might’ve been higher.

        Yeah, only to be disqualified afterwards for not using both compounds…

        1. Well, mayve they could have gotten on them later, not sure @roel-f1,@tmekt

          1. In hindsight, yes. But when he swapped, my friend who is a fan asked me if they will last that long, and I told him that due to the much lighter fuel loads, and the track being much more rubbered in he should make it fine.

            Obviously Force India thought so too!

        2. Oh he didn’t start on options, ….of course he didn’t, whoops sorry my bad :D

          1. You don’t get disqualified for not running both sets of tyres, it’s a 30 second time penalty. Maybe this year it will work out best for someone to take the penalty at some point.

            1. David not Coulthard (@)
              17th March 2013, 9:08

              Isn’t it 20 seconds?

            2. No, that’s only the case if the race is suspended and cannot be restarted. If the race is completed, any driver who didn’t use both dry compounds is DQ’d. See 25.4(f) here: http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/8680/fia.html

      2. That’s tantrum for Di Resta, did you watch his interview, he kind needed the attention after his teammate led the team and paced really well, I don’t care if he is right, reality is that Sutils strategy was better.

        1. The strategy, of course, that Di Resta couldn’t actually use because he outqualified Sutil and thus got into Q3 and had to start on the tyres he qualified on.

    2. If we go by that thinking, should Sutil feel “robbed of 3rd” because the team pitted him earlier than proved the way to go in afterthoughts? Lame excused already from Di Resta then.

      Didn’t he start from 9th. Sutil from 12th, but did the more impressive job.

      1. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
        17th March 2013, 8:35

        he’s not reffering to Sutil’s but his own-given strategy which cost him time with another midfielder.
        if Di Resta wanted the reverse strategy like Sutil, he should sat out in Q3.

      2. David not Coulthard (@)
        17th March 2013, 9:13

        should Sutil feel “robbed of 3rd”

        Perhaps, but I think he’ll appropiately keep silent about it.

        @adityafakhri But hindsight’s just so awesome, isn’t it?

      3. @bascb
        Di Resta isn’t referring to strategy as much as the fact that he was given team orders not to pass Sutil in the closing laps despite being 2 seconds a lap faster than him.

        1. In my opinion it doesn’t change all that much @mhop. I would think its more logical if we would hear Sutil “complain” they made the wrong strategy call by calling him in for SS tyres when they did than for Di Resta to complain about holding station in the last stages of the race.

          I can understand why he is not too impressed by it, but that is no reason whatsoever to talk about being robbed if a place. In the end Sutil regained a bit of pace after 2 laps, the team needed both to finish and DiResta could be a bit of a rear guard for Sutil against the likes of Button, Grosjean and Vergne who were not that far behind.

    3. The whining begins.

      1. Yeap, he’s a whining bitch!
        I think this year the whole world will be convinced that Di Resta is nowhere near as good as he (and some) thinks he is

    4. Expected nothing else from the man whose mouth moves quicker than his right foot..

      1. Haha. Guess that explains Kimi’s speed then?

        1. lol. Good one!

    5. He went on about this twice. Seriously, I don’t get what he is on about.

      He was up against Sutil as a rookie and got beaten by him, Hulkenberg came into the team and beat him and now Sutil has come back after hardly any testing and completely out performed him.

      Di Resta should only be annoyed at himself for being completely overshadowed by his team mate… again.

      1. I agree. Very disappointing the supersofts did not work for Sutil in the last stint. The sponsor will be pleased though, with the amount of laps he lead the race. All in all not a bad result for Sutil on his comeback. I must admit DiResta did better then I thought; good qualifying and finishing 8th, just behind his team mate. He maximised his potential today imo.

      2. I was going to comment, but @TommyB has said all that needs to be said on this point!

      3. Lets hope they have another look at bringing Bianchi into the team in a race or two. This time to partner Sutil.

      4. I’m not sure he was completely outperformed- for one thing, Di Resta made it to Q3. And for another, that is one factor which seriously aided Sutil.

      5. He went on about this twice. Seriously, I don’t get what he is on about.

        He was up against Sutil as a rookie and got beaten by him, Hulkenberg came into the team and beat him and now Sutil has come back after hardly any testing and completely out performed him.

        Di Resta should only be annoyed at himself for being completely overshadowed by his team mate… again.

        I think that comment is + ({WRLD_POPULTN} – [{PAUL_D’R} + {HELICOPTER}])

    6. Di’Resta should just shut up and congratulate his team mate for putting in a camera time worthy performance… unlike himself.

      1. Camera time worthy performance – I like it!

        Sutil did great.

        Many drivers wrecked their tyres by setting times right after they pitted.

      2. @nick-uk @tommyb89
        The usual ignorant comments on here about di Resta.

        Di Resta is obviously disappointed because he was given team orders not to overtake Sutil in the closing laps despite being 2 seconds a lap faster than him. I thought people on here were usually against team orders?

        How people can say he was ‘outperformed’ by Sutil this weekend is ridiculous. He made Q3, outqualified Sutil by 1.2 seconds, and without team orderrs would have beaten him in the race despite a heavily compromsed strategy. Unfortunately we have a lot of people on here that only comprehend what the TV cameras show them and little else.

        What is more the irony of people moaning and whining about someone else supposedly moaning and whining never ceases to amaze.

        1. @mhop

          What is more the irony of people moaning and whining about someone else supposedly moaning and whining never ceases to amaze.

          Welcome to the internet…

    7. Is it only me or di Resta always paints himself as a victim of something or someone?

      1. @armchairexpert – Personally, I think Paul di Resta is far too concerned with the future than he is with the present. He always goes out of his way to explain how his poor results weren’t really his fault, and I think he does it because he wants team principals to look on him favourably so that he can get a better seat in the future.

      2. andrew simmons
        17th March 2013, 9:11

        Yes. I call it the ‘Jenson Button syndrome’ after his constant ‘balance, tyres, oversteer, understeer or graining’ complaints. Even when he wins he makes out it was the hardest thing since resurrecting Christ himself.

        1. +1! haha

      3. You are not alone. DiResta should have been an ambassador in his past life

    8. So sick of his whining. Wah I was overlooked by Ferrari/McLaren etc. even though I was beaten by both my teammates. Wah I was robbed of 7th even though my teammate raced far better than me.

      1. Of course he was overlooked by top teams. Those need a driver that performs well in the car not under the ‘wailing wall’.

    9. Aw, come on. It’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

    10. DiResta sounds like he thinks he’s entitled to more. Not just now but also last year when he voiced his disappointment over not getting a seat in a “better” team.

    11. Why is it always someone/something else Paul?

    12. Well, it’s quite understandable for Di Resta to crack down, right? After all this is the 3rd year in a row when he’ll probably get shredded to pieces by his team mate (the same who did it in 2011). That can’t help his “make a better team notice me campaign”.

      I’d be furious too…

    13. back to his old habit. Always whining. Either blames the team, other drivers or conditions

    14. “I feel a bit robbed of a seventh place given the way our strategy was and where I was in the final stages of that Grand Prix,” he said after the race.

      Meanwhile, Adrian Sutil is probably feeling a bit robbed of a possible third place finish. Seventh place is a pretty poor consolation prize given his performance throughout the race. Nevertheless, he did a lot more to earn that seventh place than Paul di Resta did, so I find myself totally without sympathy for di Resta missing out.

    15. I was genuinely shocked when I saw the headline. He feels robbed of 7th? More like he could have stolen 7th for himself, but didn’t.

      I think F3 and DTM success went to his head, and he hasn’t improved significantly enough since he came into the sport to get the top drive he feels he deserves.

      1. And the constant media hype and public reassurance from Dario is not helping…

    16. I really think Kobayashi should replace Di resta.

    17. Your quote says it all @keithcollantine, he should look at the positives, not blame circumstance and lack of overtaking someone for doing even better. Especially since 7th is his teammate who did it himelf, no one will be very interested to hear that.

    18. The headline is misleading.I thought he got a team order telling him not to overtake Sutil and hence felt robbed.This guy is really a whiner, have never seen him stick a good overtaking move.A better driver could have easily overtaken Sutil in the closing stages.

      1. The headline is not misleading, it’s a direct and accurate quote as you can see from the text of the article.

        However as it turns out he was given a team order.

    19. Soon Di Resta will be whinging why he’s not the global face of F1!

    20. It’s not the greatest quote in the world saying “robbed”, but to counter all the bashing that’s sure to happen, consider the intention as : “Had we been able to get around Jenson, we would have easily taken 7th today” and it pretty much lines up with reality. Everyone here seems to see his attitude as whining, but I always interpret him as simply summing up where the results could have been improved. That’s my personal attitude when I work on projects, etc is to look at where improvements can/could have been made.

      For a completely fun hypothetical, he could have been told by the team not to attack Sutil. IIRC Di Resta’s pace dropped significantly the last 2 laps, which may have been his old tyres going off, or may have been him having been told to bring it home.

      1. Well, words do matter @darak, Vettel for example just said he lost time and tyre life behind Sutil, no need to feel robbed, do better next time.

      2. Maybe if English would not have been his mother tongue (I don’t count Scottish there :-) ), I would go with that one, but now not really.

        It probably was made as a remark to feeling his team held him back – see what Keith posted below – but still its not the best thing to say or feel about it.

    21. Second race in succession that Di Resta’s team mate has outperformed him by some margin while leading for multiple laps…

      1. @magnificent-geoffrey
        Di Resta “outperformed by some margin”? Are you serious? Do you have your eyes open? Di Resta outqualified Sutil by 1.2 seconds, and despite running a suboptimal strategy would have finished ahead of him had he not been given team orders.

        Maybe you should consider the facts before posting.

        1. @mhop Yes, my eyes were open. They were too busy watching Sutil lead the Grand Prix to notice what Di Resta was doing. Just like I was busy watching Hulkenberg lead thirty laps in Interlagos and only noticed Di Resta when he crashed out of ninth with two laps to go.

          Di Resta thinks of himself as a real future star, but the way his form fell away last year after he missed out on the McLaren drive and was soundly outclassed by Hulkenberg in those final eight or so races means I do have some very reasonable concerns about his true potential. He’s a good driver, but I don’t see him as an elite one.

          1. You clearly watch Formula 1 on a very superficial level.

            Which is fine but it’s frustrating to read ignorant comments.

            You are of course entitled to yur opinions but I would say that Sutil, Di Resta and Hulkenberg are all potential elite drivers.

            1. I am sorry to feed your frustration @mhop, but telling others their comments are ignorant only makes reading yours a really unpleasant job, and it won’t help bring any discussion forward really.
              Maybe it would be better if instead you gave more thought to understanding what others actually write before just putting down their comments for expressing a view very different from yours.

          2. So Sutil finished 1.2 seconds ahead of Di Resta because Di Resta was ordered to hold station, despite using a clearly superior strategy – one Di Resta couldn’t use because he outqualified Sutil (and because the tyre rules are retarded), and he “outperformed Di Resta by some margin”?

            Not seeing it. At best, his margin was 1.2 seconds.

    22. Interesting quote from Bob Fearnley, which puts di Resta’s quote in context:

      “Paul probably could’ve passed Adrian in the closing laps, but he held station to ensure we brought home the strong team result.”

      So is di Resta saying he was robbed… by his own team? Heh. That would endear Paul to them pretty quickly. ;)

    23. Force India have confirmed Di Resta was told to “hold station” behind Sutil at the end. So I wonder if his words here were motivated more out of frustration with that.

      1. team work is important in F1. Its not like Adrian and Paul were for victory/championship

      2. David not Coulthard (@)
        17th March 2013, 9:45

        ….So he may be right afterall.

      3. And Sutil’s pace did get better towards the end, don’t think Di Resta would have cracked him. Have a look at the last three lap times compared the the three before that.

        1. It got better relative to di Resta, because di Resta was holding station. Relative to Button it was still terrible.

      4. I guess they are. Still, not much to win from passing your teammate in the dying stages of the race, and risk a tangle. And Sutil did do the hard work to earn that spot.

        1. @bascb
          How can you say Sutil did the hard work? Di Resta outpaced him on a suboptimal strategy. Your comment makes no sense at all.

          1. You keep describing Di Resta’s strategy as suboptimal. How exactly would you describe Sutil’s?

            Yes, Di Resta could likely have passed him after it became clear that the team messed up Sutil’s tryre strategy if it was not for the team order. But based on the performace of Sutil in the race, did you even consider that Force India made the observation that if either of their two drivers are to win a race this year or make a go at the title it will be the stronger of the two – which again, based on today’s performance is clearly Sutil. It made sense to keep Sutil ahead. It keeps him in the best position possible if he is to make a bid for the title.

            1. @mhop (Sorry meant to tag you in the above response)

            2. Thanks @nick-uk for pointing out the flaw in mhops thinking there.

              Given that DiResta did get the better of Sutil, and started several spots in front of him, I would certainly say Sutil did a better race!

            3. @nick-uk @bascb @malleshmagdum
              I read a lot of people saying that Sutil was somehow let down by poor strategy. That Force India got their strategy wrong by bringing Sutil in “early” for the Super Softs. This is just wrong.

              He HAD to move to Super Softs on lap 43 because by that that point his mediums were at the end of their lives (25 laps).

              Although people got very excited watching Sutil run at the front it was a false position. It was inherent in Force India’s strategy that he would be slow at the end.

              At the end he had to run 12 laps on the Super Soft. Di Resta managed 8 in the opening laps with tyres that already had four laps on them from qualifying, so in that way they were in the same position. (Indeed it should have been harder for di Resta given he was running the Super Softs with a full fuel tank.)

              Sutil drove a great race (he’s a great talent) but all I’m arguing, from pure fact, is that his race pace was no better than di Resta’s.

              Sorry that I’ve offended some people. I do respect others’ opinions (i.e. you obviously don’t rate di Resta, which is fine), but I will try to point out factual inaccuracies where I see them.

              From my point of view (if you’re interested) di Resta is one of the best racers in the midfield. With the exception of a few races at the tail end of last year he has been a remarkably consistent, strong performer in his short F1 career. Look at his record at Australia: three Grand Prix and scored in every one.

              Compare that to the of Maldonado who throws his car in to walls/gravel traps/opponents, has only ever looked fast compared to Bruno Senna, and scores about 5% of the car’s potential. Yet all I read on here is constant plaudits about Maldonado and constant abuse of di Resta!? The incessant negativity thrown at di Resta is very sad and disappointing.

          2. @mhop All through this article u hv made strong comments against ppl not aligned with ur view. Respect others’ views too.
            Why is Sutil the better racer?
            Because pure skill to lead a grand prix and nt screw up. Sutil has crashed out of good positions in 2009 just because he couldnt handle the pressure of being there. This time he did it.

    24. I am not PDR’s biggest fan, far from it but if he was told to hold station near the end and bring the car home I can sort of understand his grievance but bloody hell he’s the guy behind the wheel why not grow some and do some ? Overtaking that is.

      I had to laugh when watching the thrill of the singing of Australia Fair and the excitement of the race start getting nearer …only to be followed by the blandness that is Paul di Resta’s questioning by NP. That guy makes Andy Murray look positively exciting!

    25. Anthony Bosley (@)
      17th March 2013, 10:31

      I think the the team made the right decision to tell Di Resta to hold position behind Sutil.
      Obviously Sutil was losing over a second a lap to everyone behind him, and should Di Resta had overtaken him, then it’ll take away that safe buffer and potentially letting more cars through.

      So using Paul as a block while Adrian struggled AHEAD to make it home = more points for the team.

      1. Jenson Button was about six seconds behind di Resta in 9th; it is very unlikely he would have had enough laps to catch Sutil.

        di Resta is entitled to be unhappy with FI, but really he should be directing his ire at the FIA. If it wasn’t for the stupid “race on the tyre you qualified on” rule he’d have been able to use the same strategy Sutil did and would very probably have made as good a go of it.

    26. Paul Di Resta “Robbed of 7th place” by driving in DTM for 4 years.

    27. Uh-huh…is this Paul DiResta or we are reading the diary of a wimpy kid?
      Adrian Sutil rules. Too bad that the tyres let him down…..

      1. @amadeus
        Mate, the tyres are the same for everyone.

        1. Sure, mate. Too bad that the objectivity is not the same for everyone…..especially for Sutil. Do you hear me, Keith?

    28. HelloTraverse
      17th March 2013, 18:51

      What is wrong with Sutil? You think he would’ve learnt his lesson after his recent shinobi indiscretion. But no, here he is robbing his own team mate…*sigh*

    29. People saying Sutil performed much better than di Resta here are actually mistaken. It was di Resta who performed better in qualifying and got into Q3, but this meant he had to start on the super soft tyre. As we saw with Sutil, the Force India did not perform well on this tyre and this put di Resta back into the traffic in the midfield. Sutil, meanwhile, was able to run long and mix it up with the leaders (giving the impression of a stronger performance) before dropping back to being only three seconds ahead of di Resta once he put the super softs on. It seems popular to bash di Resta at the moment, but reading the quotes I think he has a point.

      1. A voice of reason!

    30. So di resta feels robbed of seventh due to a short stint at the beginning on super softs, and his teammates race was destroyed by the same tyres going off in 3 laps, so he wants … more abrasive tracks?

      The man makes less sense every time he opens his mouth.

    31. Please stop the popup ad…. please…. seriously….

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