French GP: Force India qualifying report

21 June 2008 – Qualifying for the 2008 French Grand Prix was one of the tightest sessions yet this year, with the entire field covered by just two seconds. Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil were only one second from the top 10 in the first 20 minute segment, however their quickest laps were just the 19th and 20th fastest of the session.

With penalties imposed on other teams, the duo will line up 18th and 19th for the race, with every hope of gaining positions with a strong race pace and aggressive strategy.

Adrian Sutil (car 20) ‘The general balance of the car was OK and it was quite nice to drive particularly after the problems we had yesterday, but it's so close. We need to improve so that's why we're at the back of the grid for now. We know though that our race pace is good compared to the others and we can stay with them so now we need to concentrate on getting to the end of the race and having a good finish, that's what is important.'

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21) ‘It was a difficult qualifying session for us as the whole field is very close. We did three single lap runs, one on the harder tyre and two on the soft, to try and get the most out of the tyres and the car felt better balanced than this morning. We still have some understeer issues, particularly when it gets hotter as it did this afternoon. We will have to see for the race now as we know that we are more competitive under race conditions.'

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer ‘I think we have to face facts that Formula One is incredibly competitive this year and to get through to Q2 here in Magny-Cours you had to be within a second of the quickest time. We are pretty much where we expected to be this afternoon and both drivers got the most out of the car and the session. Adrian did a good job to match Giancarlo, particularly after his difficult weekend so far. As we know, our race pace is usually very good compared to the group in front and we need to have a good reliable race and get two cars to the finish to see what places we can pick up.'

-credit: fi