Monaco GP: Force India race report

Adrian Sutil (car 20, VJM02/01):
14th: 1:41:31.730 (+ 1 lap)

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21, VJM02/04):
9th: 1:41:49.322 (+ 65.040 secs)

24 May 2009 - The Force India Formula One Team enjoyed its most competitive race performance to date in today's Monaco Grand Prix. Giancarlo Fisichella finished a fighting 9th position, just 1.8secs from eighth and and one point, and the final driver to be on the lead lap at the end of the race. Adrian Sutil passed the flag in 14th place.

Giancarlo drove a faultless race to gain four places on his starting position. From the early stages of the race he participated in a close-fought battle with Sebastien Bourdais for the final points' scoring position. Giancarlo, who started the race on the harder Bridgestone tyre compound, closed to within one second of the Frenchman during his first stint and remained within two seconds for the remainder of the race. The tight street circuit however provided scant opportunity to overtake and Giancarlo crossed the line in his slipstream.

Adrian started the race on the supersoft tyre option, but excessive graining in the early stages of the race forced an early pit stop on lap 11 to change to the harder compound. He dropped to the rear of the field and unfortunately then got caught with blue flags and traffic. Despite keeping pace with Hamilton in front of him, following his second stop on lap 49 he fell further behind to finish 14th overall.

Adrian Sutil (car 20)
We had started on a one-stop strategy, which would have been OK but we used the supersoft tyre from the start and they grained up very quickly. I had to pit and lost a lot of time there. That was it really - it was hard to come back from this. In the end I was doing some quick laps and had quite a good pace, so there are some positives and we can be happy at some aspects. There is more to come from us for sure.

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)
Ninth position is a great result for the team. The pace was very good and consistent and I felt I was driving well, taking care of the tyres and putting in some fast laps at the same time. I just lost a position at the start and perhaps it was this that cost me the point in the end, but we have to be happy about today. It was a great step forward, to get two cars into Q2 and then to get within two seconds of a point. We need to keep pushing and be there all the time now.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
This has been a very encouraging weekend all round. We got two cars into Q2 and finished within a whisker of the points; and all on merit. We've incremented our performance and raced it well this weekend, and we know we have more upgrades in the pipeline, which is a great motivating factor. I would like to say thank you to both drivers for keeping focussed and pushing so hard and to the entire team at the track and at the factory for keeping the momentum going. If we continue on the path we have now laid before us, I am certain we'll achieve the success we all deserve.

-credit: force india