2010 F1 season preview: Force India

Last year they got their first points, first pole and first podium. Can Force India carry the momentum of their 2009 breakthrough into 2010?

Second-fastest Sutil says pace is “real”

Adrian Sutil said the pace of the new Force India in the final day of F1 testing in Jerez is a true reflection of the car’s potential.
Speaking after the test he said:
I was not completely light, it’s not our goal to do that because there’s no reason to do that in our first real day [...]

Di Resta to do 18 F1 practice sessions

Pictures: Paul di Resta’sForce India test

Force India third driver Paul di Resta will drive in all bar one of this year’s first free practice sessions in 2010.
He will take the place of team mates Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi in FP1 at alternate events for every race except for the Korean Grand Prix.
At Korea, both [...]

Sutil, Liuzzi and Szafnauer interviews

Force India has launched its 2010 F1 car, the VJM03. The team has also published some interviews with its drivers and chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer on the season ahead:
Adrian Sutil, driver
2009 was a transitional year for the team, and you scored your best result in F1 to date. How would you sum up this [...]

Adrian Sutil says F1 is losing its thrill because the tracks are “too safe”

Adrian Sutil has given a frank assessment of the newest track on the F1 calendar, telling the Times of India the circuit was safe but “boring”:
Abu Dhabi was one of the most perfect circuits I have driven on, and the most boring as well.It was just straight and really, really boring. But I probably cannot [...]

Force India keep Sutil and Liuzzi for 2010

Force India once talked about getting an Indian racer in one of their cars but it won’t happen next year: they’ve decided to start 2010 with the same two drivers they ended 2009 with.
Adrian Sutil will start his fourth season as an F1 racer and continue his run of starting every race for Force India.
And [...]

2009 F1 driver rankings part 1: 25-16

Working out who was the best F1 driver is never easy – a driver typically only has one rival who has the same equipment, and even within teams two cars are not necessarily always the same.
And it’s been even harder this year with the sudden emergence of Brawn and Red Bull as front runners, and [...]

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fastest lap analysis

Drivers’ fastest laps

Rank
Driver
Fastest lap
Deficit to fastest lap
Laps within 1% of personal best

1
Sebastian Vettel
100.279
0
21

2
Sebastien Buemi
100.326
0.047
14

3
Lewis Hamilton
100.367
0.088
10

4
Rubens Barrichello
100.449
0.17
21

5
Mark Webber
100.571
0.292
26

6
Jenson Button
100.642
0.363
29

7
Nick Heidfeld
100.672
0.393
29

8
Jarno Trulli
100.723
0.444
21

9
Kazuki Nakajima
100.754
0.475
8

10
Fernando Alonso
100.757
0.478
6

11
Kamui Kobayashi
100.779
0.5
21

12
Kimi Raikkonen
100.843
0.564
6

13
Adrian Sutil
100.904
0.625
11

14
Robert Kubica
100.924
0.645
27

15
Nico Rosberg
100.997
0.718
24

16
Giancarlo Fisichella
101.132
0.853
2

17
Vitantonio Liuzzi
101.277
0.998
5

18
Heikki Kovalainen
101.316
1.037
20

19
Romain Grosjean
102.274
1.995
23

20
Jaime Alguersuari
103.318
3.039
10

Top 50 fastest laps

Rank
Driver
Lap time
Lap

1
Sebastian Vettel
100.279
54

2
Sebastien Buemi
100.326
55

3
Sebastian Vettel
100.328
18

4
Lewis Hamilton
100.367
16

5
Rubens Barrichello
100.449
54

6
Sebastien Buemi
100.513
54

7
Rubens Barrichello
100.514
55

8
Sebastian Vettel
100.53
16

9
Mark Webber
100.571
14

10
Sebastian Vettel
100.594
53

11
Lewis Hamilton
100.599
15

12
Sebastian Vettel
100.642
39

13
Jenson Button
100.642
49

14
Jenson Button
100.659
15

15
Rubens Barrichello
100.666
15

16
Sebastian Vettel
100.668
38

17
Nick Heidfeld
100.672
54

18
Mark Webber
100.713
16

19
Jarno Trulli
100.723
49

20
Jarno [...]

Vettel leads a Red Bull one-two in finale (Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race report)

Sebastian Vettel took advantage of problems for Lewis Hamilton to win his fourth Grand Prix of 2009.
It was a one-two for Red Bull as Mark Webber kept Jenson Button at bay to take second place in an exciting end to an otherwise predictable race.

Final 2009 F1 championship standings

Drivers’ championship

Driver
Points

1
Jenson Button
95

2
Sebastian Vettel
84

3
Rubens Barrichello
77

4
Mark Webber
69.5

5
Lewis Hamilton
49

6
Kimi Raikkonen
48

7
Nico Rosberg
34.5

8
Jarno Trulli
32.5

9
Fernando Alonso
26

10
Timo Glock
24

11
Felipe Massa
22

12
Heikki Kovalainen
22

13
Nick Heidfeld
19

14
Robert Kubica
17

15
Giancarlo Fisichella
8

16
Sebastien Buemi
6

17
Adrian Sutil
5

18
Kamui Kobayashi
3

19
Sebastien Bourdais
2

20
Romain Grosjean
0

20
Vitantonio Liuzzi
0

20
Jaime Alguersuari
0

20
Kazuki Nakajima
0

20
Luca Badoer
0

20
Nelson Piquet Jnr
0

Constructors’ championship

Driver
Points

1
Brawn
172

2
Red Bull
153.5

3
McLaren
71

4
Ferrari
70

5
Toyota
59.5

6
BMW
36

7
Williams
34.5

8
Renault
26

9
Force India
13

10
Toro Rosso
8