India`s Karun Chandhok
will make his F1 debut in the season-opening Bahrain Grand
Prix in the last row, while Force India driver Adrian Sutil
will be 10th on the grid here tomorrow.
|Last Updated: Mar 13, 2010, 08:58 PM IST|Source: Bureau
Manama (Bahrain): India`s Karun Chandhok
will make his F1 debut in the season-opening Bahrain Grand
Prix in the last row, while Force India driver Adrian Sutil
will be 10th on the grid here tomorrow.
Hispania Racing driver Chandhok`s 2:04.904 timing was not
good enough to qualify for the second qualification and the
Indian driver finished at the bottom at the 24th position.
However, it was a brilliant day for Vijay Mallya-owned
Force India as Sutil made it to the third and final qualifying
session and his best lap of 1:56.309 put him at the fifth row.
His teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi will start 12th tomorrow
having made it to Q2 but failing to qualify for Q3.
"I`m very happy. I think it was a great achievement to go
into Q3 at the first race: our best start to the season for a
long time. The team should be very proud of it, I am very
proud of this, so let`s see how it goes tomorrow," Sutil said.
"Our goal is now to finish in the points. At the moment
I`m in tenth and hopefully we can make one or two positions up
as I`m the only car on the hard tyre so it may be an
advantage." "I`m surprised that the others were on the soft tyres so
our decision could pay off tomorrow. We are strong under heavy
fuel loads but we were very fast in Q1 and Q2 when everyone
was on soft tyres so there are a few more positions we could
gain. We worked very hard over the winter and over the last
four years and it`s nice to see it giving dividends now,"
Sutil added.
Force India chairman and team principal Mallya said the
result showed the extent of hard work put up by his team.
"I think the whole team can be very proud of this result.
It`s a great start to the season and a mark of how much
progress we have made over the winter. Last season we didn`t
get through to Q2 in this race and this year we`ve got both
cars in the top 12," Mallya said.
"Of course that`s not a precursor to getting points,
which is what really matters, but it does give us a much
better chance. Particularly positive is that Adrian is
starting the race on the harder tyre, unlike the rest of the
top ten, so should be well-placed to capitalise as the softer
tyre degrades in the warm conditions. I can`t wait for
tomorrow`s race now!," he added.
At the top, Sebastian Vettel secured Red Bull`s first
pole position, beating Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso on the
Ferraris.
Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes finished fourth, while
his teammate and last year champion Jenson Button finished
eighth, one behind seven-time formula one world champion
Michael Schumacher.
PTI
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