Formula 1

Singapore GP: Force India qualifying report

26 September 2009 - The Force India Formula One Team endured a disappoi= nting qualifying under the lights of Singapore's Marina Bay circuit as = neither Adrian Sutil nor Tonio Liuzzi made the cut for Q2. Hopes had be= en high for the team to enter ...

Edited: Oct 8, 2009, 2:29 AM

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26 September 2009 - The Force India Formula One Team endured a disappoi= nting qualifying under the lights of Singapore's Marina Bay circuit as = neither Adrian Sutil nor Tonio Liuzzi made the cut for Q2. Hopes had be= en high for the team to enter into the second segment following the out= standing results of Spa and Monza, however a combination of traffic and= the tricky high downforce configuration saw this ambition confounded.

Adrian will start from 16th position and Tonio from 20th for tomorrow's= 61 lap race.

Adrian Sutil:

As we can see, we are still very quick on the straights and on the high= speed circuits such as Spa and Monza, but here it is all about downfor= ce. It's a very similar configuration to Monte Carlo, but about twice a= s long with twice as many corners and that's why we lost so much over o= ne lap. We have had a problem with the grip level the whole weekend. I = did expect us to be a little bit more competitive, but the field is ver= y tight and if you lose out a bit in the traffic suddenly you are at th= e back. I lost some time on my fastest lap when Giancarlo [Fisichella] = was in front of me in the middle sector and I finished 16th. It's going= to be difficult but let's see what we can do. It's a long race and any= thing is possible and we will still be giving it our best.=20

Tonio Liuzzi:

We knew we would struggle more on this type of circuit compared to the = low downforce tracks such as Spa and Monza but we didn't expect it woul= d be this much. We were suffering with a lack of traction and weren't a= ble to find the right balance - Adrian and I seem to have the same prob= lems. My quickest lap was quite clean, perhaps there were a couple of t= enths more in it, but to get through to Q2 this time would have been qu= ite difficult. With more fuel on board we are quite competitive but fro= m this point on the grid it will be tough. However at a circuit like th= is anything can happen and if we have a good pace in the race and a goo= d balance we could still get some points. Street circuits are always a = bit crazy so we won't give up just yet.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal:

After the outstanding performance in Spa and Monza we were expecting mo= re of a challenge this weekend for sure. We feel we have a car that is = now amongst the quickest in the field but unfortunately in high downfor= ce trim we are not seeing a reflection of this performance as teams tha= t were behind us in Spa and Monza are ahead of us here. There are howev= er only two extraordinarily high downforce tracks on the calendar - her= e and Monaco - so we cannot trade this improvement in performance for j= ust one race. We are still looking forward to the Grand Prix, which is = sure to be eventful, long and challenging and will try our best to cont= inue our current run of points' scoring finishes. We are however antici= pating a better performance at the more traditional tracks of Suzuka an= d Interlagos, which will be sure to suit us a lot better.

-credit: fi

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