New Delhi: After being positioned nicely at
10th on the grid and a fast car at his disposal, Force India
driver Adrian Sutil believes a top six finish just slipped
through his fingers in yesterday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Sutil, who went on to clock the second fastest lap of the
season opener in Bahrain's Sakhir circuit, saw his point hopes
being dashed after a cloud of smoke from the back of Mark
Webber's car blinded him and his VJM03 spun to drop down to
the second last position.
"I think in this race my pace was good enough for the top
five or top six," said Sutil who eventually finished 12th.
His teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi brought smiles with his
ninth place finish and Sutil reckoned the outfit was good
enough to be regularly among points.
"We are able to run in the top 10 very easily and scoring
points should be possible in the next races so we keep that
momentum at the moment," Sutil explained.
Liuzzi was naturally elated having scored his first
points for the Silverstone-based outfit.
"We saw that we had a really great performance compared
to last year and the car is improving. The team is doing
really great job and that's why I like this team," said the
Italian.
Liuzzi said Force India's comparatively limited resource
notwithstanding, the team was good enough to give its big
brothers a good run for their money.
"The teams ahead of us invested a huge amount of money.
But our group is trying to show that with small resources with
a heart you can make a really great job anyway," he said.
Hispania's driver Karun Chandhok's mood, however, was
sombre and the Chennai driver sounded apologetic after his
much-anticipated F1 debut did not last even three minutes.
"Sorry, this was my fifth lap on this track. I hit a bump
in the new part of the circuit, I was not that much
experienced in that part of the track as I had driven only
four timed laps over the weekend," Karun said after the race.
"I was pushed on exit curb, trying to bring tyres in
gently, I did not know that part of the circuit. I want to
thank my mechanics for accompanying my first laps on this
track and the whole team for a great week-end and long
sleepless hours. Now let's look forward to start again in
Melbourne," he added.
PTI
First Published: Monday, March 15, 2010, 19:05