Japanese GP: Force India qualifying report

Adrian Sutil (car 20, VJM01/06):
FP3: 19th 1:27.357 (12 laps)
Q1: 19th 1:19.163 (10 laps)

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21, VJM01/05):
FP3: 20th 1:27.918 (17 laps)
Q1: 20th 1:19.910 (10 laps)

The Force India Formula One Team will start the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella in 19th and 20th positions respectively. Qualifying for tomorrow's 67 lap race was the closest battle so far this season, with the entire field covered by just over one second in the first 20 minute session.

Despite heavy rain in the early part of the day, track conditions improved dramatically in the afternoon and both Force India drivers completed all their qualifying runs on dry tyres. The duo improved their times by more than one second from start to finish to overcome a lack of running in the final morning practice. Adrian managed only the final 10 minutes of the session when his VJM01 developed a hydraulic problem after just two laps, while Giancarlo also had a lengthy stop as he developed a brake system issue following two runs and completed only 17 laps.

Tomorrow's race will start at 13:30hrs local time.

Adrian Sutil (car 20)

'It was very close again today. I'm quite happy with my performance as I did some really good laps and the last one was particularly on the edge. I don't think there was any more we could do. We were just one second from pole, which was very good and competitive but still not enough. Let's see what the race brings now, we are quick in a straight line and I think there is a chance to make up some places.'

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)

'I could improve my time quite a lot from the first run, but on my final run I hit some traffic on the out lap and couldn't warm up the tyres in the cool conditions. Unfortunately I locked up into turn one and lost a lot of time there, so even though the rest of the lap was OK it was never going to be quick. It's a shame but we are still very close to the fastest times. Tomorrow's race will be exciting - you never know what the weather will bring, so we'll look to have a good strategy and try to make up places when we can.'

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer

'It was again a very, very close qualifying with the whole field incredibly closely matched. Adrian being just one second off the pace is a very good result for us and just a couple of tenths would have moved both him and Giancarlo up a couple of places. We know we have a good race pace and set-up for tomorrow and have to look to put in a good performance.'

-credit: force india