Force India: Di Resta claims best result so far

2011 Hungarian GP team review

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Paul di Resta scored the best result of his career so far in Hungary with seventh place.

Adrian SutilPaul di Resta
Qualifying position811
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)1’22.000 (-0.256)1’22.256
Race position147
Laps68/7069/70
Pit stops43

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

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

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970
Adrian Sutil129.049114.999110.33107.104106.761106.745105.934104.687104.392103.687103.624105.595119.72694.02393.11492.0293.27790.9291.13791.15991.36690.79890.09491.491.94992.502108.74688.36788.18189.20690.76888.40888.72988.69288.32588.10988.51288.66489.92488.47288.61589.54288.30788.47889.01395.85792.02892.008102.062104.783113.16994.20197.616110.53891.79489.79988.85789.98490.04291.02186.30586.01186.0786.06289.62985.57986.31886.478
Paul di Resta121.896110.619108.701106.982105.329104.301104.08103.553102.683101.961103.87118.73295.78392.48291.8790.95190.70690.44490.21690.28790.09889.97990.74790.23190.67690.63692.612107.55589.29287.61188.01188.52388.79688.79688.888.64188.93389.03989.52589.43689.70691.426107.84186.66287.74497.50493.29489.17196.059103.62795.84389.90688.43889.46887.65289.07889.14188.97687.36187.28287.41387.40986.9186.71785.93586.39586.61186.21390.057

Adrian Sutil

Sutil carried his momentum from Germany and made his third appearance in Q3, splitting the Mercedes for eighth.

But he went off at the chicane on the first lap, falling to 20th place. “I locked up the rear into the chicane,” he said.

“I was right behind Paul and to avoid an accident I had to go off the track and lost a lot of positions.”

He fought back quickly, passing Sergio Perez, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock on successive laps.

But his recovery stalled when he joined the ten drivers who pitted for intermediates during the late shower, and ended the race 14th.

Adrian Sutil 2011 form guide

Paul di Resta, Force India, Hungaroring, 2011

Paul di Resta

Di Resta missed out on a place in the final ten by a tenth of a second, starting 11th.

He stayed out of trouble at the start and inherited places from his team mate and Perez, who both went off.

Di Resta closed on Michael Schumacher during the damp stint at the start of the race, then jumped in front of him during the first pit stops.

After two stints on super-soft tyres he switched to softs for his final stint. He briefly fell to 12th and was embroiled a scrap with Sebastien Buemi which he came out of on top.

He then set about passing Kamui Kobayashi, who was struggling for grip in his Sauber. That done, Di Resta had only to safeguard himself from the attentions of Buemi over the final laps to claim seventh place.

He said: “Finishing seventh is the best way to respond after a series of races where, for various reasons, we didn’t get the results that were possible.

“So it’s nice to go into the summer break with a smile on my face having scored points that are so important for our position in the championship.”

Paul di Resta 2011 form guide

2011 Hungarian Grand Prix

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    Image © Force India F1 Team

    Author information

    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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    30 comments on “Force India: Di Resta claims best result so far”

    1. VJM04 has been a surprise package, with exodus of key staff members one thought that team would struggle get in q3 & would not be able to beat the likes of Suaber, Williams & Toro Rosso. but they seem to have made a big step on the car.

      di Resta does have speed, but he needs get more results like this to be noticed by top teams. he was unlucky in last few races… i hope he can out score Sutil in the second half of the season.

      1. Force India really have stepped up. They were languishing for awhile, and now they are ahead of Renault!! I love the fluidity of this season.

    2. Well done Paul di Resta! A good, solid drive with no mistakes. Hopefully he can continue in this form in Spa where the Force India’s tend to be very good!

      1. Finally he showed that without crashing into others he can be very competitive.

    3. VJM04 became quite good car now. They’ve struggled the first part of the season but the rest is quite promising. It’s opposite to last year but I think this year is much better.

    4. I am sure Sutil will try to bounce back at a track, where he did very well in the past, Spa Francorchamps…

      1. Like in 2009?

        1. No, like in 2008 and 2010… Both his best races of those years…

          1. I was being a bit sarcastic.

            I think Monaco 08 and Sepang ’10 were better persoanally.

            1. At Spa Liuzzi was 1,7 seconds per lap slower then Sutil… They were both much closer together at Sepang…

    5. Di Resta once again showing remarkable speed in wet conditions.

      In Canada he shot up to 5th and challenged for 4th. In the UK he ran 7th, keeping pace with Button and the front runners. And once again in the wet opening stages at Hungary he was able to keep pace with Webber and pull away from Kobayashi (and the other mid-field drivers) at over a second per lap! When it rained again towards the end he gained advantage once more – overtaking Buemi and Koboyashi, and pulling away for a great points finish! Very happy for him – a well deserved result.

    6. Also, does anyone else think the lack of coverage of the mid-field — especially on the first lap(s) — is very disappointing. It’s a shame that we never saw, and probably will never see, all the incidents that went on in Turn 7, with Sutil, Perez and several others going off. Same thing last week where we never saw how Heidfeld went in to the back of Di Resta.

      Also, a slight correction to Keith’s article. He says that Di Resta inherited positions because Sutil and Perez went off. Di Resta was already ahead of both of them going in to the first corner. He would also have got past Webber, and possibly both Ferraris, but got bogged down by Massa on the exit of turn 1.

      1. We also never got to see Di Resta’s crucial passes on Buemi and Koboyashi, of course. I know it’s not possible for all of these to be shown during the race, but it would be good if FIA released more footage afterwards. It would be great if the BBC Forum could show “other action we missed”, and get reaction from Brundle, Coulthard etc, rather than just the same shots over and over!

        1. Yeah so they can over hype Di resta some more…

      2. Definitely, usually we can see something of the starts by the head of the field, but the busy midfield only typically gets a view in the background of a pseudo-fight ahead.

      3. I agree about the coverage, but I do think that (first lap aside) this race was a bit of an improvement over some of the recent ones.

        I actually wish it was possible after the race to watch another cut of it with different commentators concentrating just on the midfield runners – although I already listen to the BBC Radio commentary after I’ve watched it live with the Brundle and Coulthard commentary so that might just send into uncomfortable realms of obsession!

    7. There is good chance that di Resta might make to the podium at Spa…

      1. Very unlikely…

      2. Yeah, very unlikely keeping the fact that top 3 teams are way ahead of mid-field.

    8. Scuderia Britalia Racing - Lucas "Mr. Veloce" - Yours With Wings
      1st August 2011, 19:45

      I am really desperate for Paul to outscore Adrian this year, what does Paul need to do in the upcoming races to outscore Adrian? I would also really like to see Nico Hulkenberg in Adrian’s seat next year alongside Paul. Either that or in Paul’s seat if Paul decides to leave.

      1. So what have you got against Sutil?

        1. Lucas - Mr. Veloce of Britalia - Yours With Wings
          3rd August 2011, 20:24

          To be honest, nothing but he seems to only really have one good race. Plus he is so highly rated that you would have thought that he’d have moved on now.

      2. I would like to see him outscore Adrian too. But credit to Sutil for being ahead so far.

    9. From the looks of it Force India appears to be the 4th best car on the grid during race day. I pray both the drivers continue the form and get lots of points in spa…

      1. At the moment at least, the seem to edge out Sauber a bit, STR depends on its drivers making good, and Renault is at the back of that group at the moment. Mercedes indeed only ahead in Qualifying but not the race any more.

        The fact that Lotus seems to be able to get closer to the midfield (even if it is Williams, who seem to be falling back due to unreliability and strategy issues), and that the midfield closes up on the “Best of the rest” is good to see. Pity there’s about a second gap to the top from there.

    10. I would really like to see both VJM04′s in the points at Spa at the end of the month. I still believe the podium is out of reach, but maybe we can get an inspired drive like we saw out of Giancarlo Fisichella back in 2009 in the VJM02.

    11. Spa is definitely a positive for Force India. After two “best of the rest” results in Nurburgring and Hungary, it does show that they have a quick race day car and a relatively good car in quali.

      With Hungary being a show of good downforce, plus the Mercedes engine, I think we may see Force India get a double points finish in Spa. Possibly Monza too.

    12. Who the better rookie di resta or perez who win rookie of the year.

      1. They’re both level on 8 points (I think) at the moment. We will see at the end of the season.

    13. A good race for Di Resta, he did well to keep calm while avoiding Hamilton, a very mature response to boot.

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