Both cars score (Force India race review)

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Adrian SutilVitantonio Liuzzi
Qualifying position812
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)1’47.292 (-1.388)1’48.680
Race position510
Average race lap2’01.667 (-0.585)2’02.252
Laps44/4444/44
Pit stops24

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Adrian Sutil

There was no repeat of their 2009 pole position for Force India – Sutil was their highest qualifier in eighth.

He passed Nico Hulkenberg for seventh after the first safety car period and pitted on lap 21 to preserve his lead over the recovering Fernando Alonso. His lap times on the soft tyres had also dropped off slightly before then.

After his pit stop he used his fresher tyres and the VJM03’s excellent straight-line speed at the exit of Eau Rouge to pass Kamui Kobayashi, Rosberg and Schumacher on consecutive laps.

Now fifth, he pitted for intermediates on lap 34 while the leading quartet stayed out one more lap. He spent the closing stages of the race hunting Felipe Massa’s Ferrari for fourth place.

Sutil pronounced himself satisfied with his fifth place, matching his best result of the year so far, saying: “I think that was the best we could do”

Compare Adrian Sutil’s form against his team mate in 2010

Vitantonio Liuzzi

Team manager Andy Stevenson said the team had trouble getting Liuzzi’s car to work as well in a straight line as his team mate’s:

We’ve had some issues trying to identify why his car is lacking top speed. Each week we seem to find something we can improve his lap time with. And it happened here again – on Friday he was really struggling with top speed and on Saturday it wasn’t an issue. We identified several areas which helped improve it and I think that showed today.
Andy Stevenson

In the race Liuzzi pitted early on lap ten to cover Alonso but could only keep the Ferrari driver behind for a couple of laps. He was back in the pits on lap 25 having damaged his front wing on Vettel’s car after the Red Bull driver passed him.

Liuzzi pitted twice as the rain began at the end of the race, ending up on the full wet weather tyre. He rose to 11th when Pedro de la Rosa spun and Jaime Alguersuari’s penalty handed Liuzzi his first point since Canada.

Compare Vitantonio Liuzzi’s form against his team mate in 2010

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    Keith Collantine
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    28 comments on “Both cars score (Force India race review)”

    1. It’s nice to see that Sutil has matured as a racing driver. If the car stays competitive, and Sutil can continue these great performances, I see him knocking on the door of teams like Renault and Mercades. But I don’t see him anywhere else but at Force India next year.

      As for Liuzzi, he did what he had to do. He’s clearly not happy with the car. I’d would keep him for next year. He has talent, but it doesn’t show when he has a difficult car to driver. So he’s clearly no Alonso, who can drive the most difficult cars and get the results. I think he’s capable of getting good results, when he’s happy with the car.

      1. Sutil drove brilliantly as always. If we check FI points only Sutil is scoring the points.

        Liuzzi, I didnt read his famous statement after qualifying, “could not enter q3 because of the traffic in q2”. BTW i guess he should be out after monza and give seat to either di Reasta or Karun. Please kick out Liuzzi

    2. Sutil is probably in contention for the man who made the most proper* overtakes on Sunday. He made alot of moves and Schumi barely defended which surprised me.

      *If you discount established teams overtaking the new teams I guess and Pit Stop jumps and such.

      1. Its not surprising considering how fast the Force India car is in a straight line.

        Massa was lucky not to get passed after the final SC restart.

      2. Webber on Massa round the outside at Rivage, on a tricky track, was the best one IMO…

    3. I like Force India, they are a well run organization, and have been built up from a team who were making up numbers when Mallya took over to a midfield team consistently scoring points.
      Hopefully the new teams will be able to improve over the next few years in a similar way to FI.

      Unfortunately for Vtantonio I feel it is now a case of counting down the races for Paul Di Resta to get his chance, unless Liuzi pulls sonething special out of the bag ie win at monza, he will be replaced next year.

      As for Sutil, he has impressed this year, and could be dark horse for best German driver. He always seems to be dicing with Schumacher for position and usually wins these battles, he has been consistent unlike Vettel, who although quick is prone to making errors. I have been saying Nico Rosberg was best German but Sutil is definately a contender, I rate these two driers very highly.

      1. Sutil is indeed fast. Unfortunately for him there’s nowhere really to move up to at the moment, so I have a feeling he’ll be staying where he is next year. I happened to see some old friends from Germany this weekend who are from a town right next to where Sutil is from, and they windsurf with a rally driver who used to kart with Sutil. Three degrees of Adrian Sutil!

        1. You realise that makes you the coolest person here right? :D

    4. bravo force india !!

      So nice to see a double points finish. If liuzzi had not got struck by blind vettle he may have finished further up..

      Anyway i think vettle too was having a bad day with FIVE pitstops!!

    5. Give Sutil or Kubica the RB6 and they will be world champions straight away! Sutil surely a podium contender for Monza.

      1. I think almost anyone in the field could be champions in the RB6.

        1. Even Sakon Yamamoto O____O

          1. I said ‘almost’ lol

          1. Be funny if Hamilton did win the title, becuase anybody could win in the RB6 except the two Redbull drivers ;)

        2. I think if Webber or Vettel do not win the WDC this year, they should be very ashamed of themselves. I’m pretty sure that Hamilton, Alonso, Kubica, Sutil, Rosberg, Button, Massa and Buemi would seal the deal in the RB6.

          1. I cannot believe I just read that. It seems a lot of you have short memories – both Vettel AND Webber were demon qualifiers in previous years, in far slower cars. All of a sudden two of the more gifted drivers on the grid are given a (very, yes, very) fast car, and all you hear is ‘it surely must be down to the RB6.’ Before 2009 both were considered something of a single lap specialist, so it’s only natural they make the car look bloody quick on Saturdays. So no, I do not believe some of those drivers listed would walk to a championship in the Red Bull.

            1. I think the Red Bull drivers have slight imago damage because we aren’t used to having such a relative difference between race pace and qualifying speed as the RB6 gives. They have in the past both shown to be fast, and together with their superbly fast car, this resulted in poles for Red Bull at but one race.

              In the race, a combination of poor starting system, relative lack of pace and perhaps issues with aero being more sensitive to being in dirty-air, and starting the year with a bad reliability record, seems to bring the car down to ground: they can often hang on but not challenge, unless they can steam off at the start.

              That extra speed when in the clear is a quite good reason for the team to have a faster-quali-than-race strategy in designing the car, but it does make it a bit of a “nice-weather” car.

    6. I Wonder……

      Is Force India operating in lower budget than Williams,Renault or even STR???

      1. Shakes head, not with a multibillionaire and the Indian government providing the capital.

        1. shakes head Indian government is not involved in anyway with forceIndia

          1. And the multibillionaire keeps that status by not spending his money lavishly but only sparingly where he thinks it counts and makes business sense, I gather.

    7. Adrian is a great driver, overtook Kobayashi and Michael and he showed also brilliant pace during the race, leaving Liuzzi almost 1,7 seconds slower in average per lap, which is really a horrible showing…

      1. He also had the best car for overtaking. That said, Kobayashi was second fastest to Sutil in the speed traps, so that can’t have been an easy overtake.

    8. The Indian Government do not Provide any capital to the team…..Its all because of Vijay Mallya….
      And yes…Their Budget is less than Williams and Renault….

    9. FIF1 has delivered massively this year. But with Gascoyne no longer involved, can they keep up this good form next year? That’s their acid test for me. If they can at least maintain this form without him around, that gives me great confidence that they will be around for a while longer.

    10. Sutil was looking very good here at Spa, i think i agree with his view of “doing the best possible job” here. Liuzzi keeps struggling to get the most out of that car, which must be frustrating. That said, he still got a point and might have got more if they would have had a better strategy at the end and a bit more luck with Vettel.

    11. I wonder if this problem with Liuzzi’s car is partly due to having lost James Key? They do seem to have a bit more trouble since they lost him and those people that went to Lotus in getting things operating well, and updates have seemed to slow down a bit.

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