Force India – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
12th (49 laps)

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
9th (49 laps)

The Force India F1 Team has opened its points account at the first race of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi drove a faultless race, matching the pace of the Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes cars, to secure ninth position. With the implementation of a new points system this year, Tonio has chalked up two points – marking his first points since the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix and Force India’s first points since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil was unfortunate to finish out of the points in 12th position. The German spun on the first lap when a cloud of smoke from the back of Mark Webber’s car completely blocked his vision and he made light contact with Robert Kubica. The incident was enough for him to spin to the rear of the field, but he pushed hard to make up several places and was closing on the top ten in the latter stages. He did have some consolation of posting the second quickest lap of the race.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
At least we finished. After the incident in the first corner it was the maximum we could do. We had a good race in the end, learning a lot about the tyres and how the car behaves at the end of a race, but the incident pretty much destroyed my hopes of getting any points. I don’t really know what happened in that corner – I was driving and then there was a big cloud of smoke so I was blind going into it. I touched someone and spun and that was it. It’s a shame but we will keep pushing for the next race.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
I’m really pleased. We achieved our target and scored some points, which is a great result for myself and for the team. It was a difficult race as with this amount of fuel and the tyres, plus the heat, we had a bit to control but overall I think we can be pretty happy about how we handled it and to be in the points is magic. All the top teams finished ahead of us and there were no failures or reliability issues so it was the maximum we could have achieved. I’m now looking forward to Australia where we will get some more updates and it could put us in an even better position for the next race. Overall a great result for the team.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What a great start to the season! I am absolutely delighted that we have scored in the first race of the season. It was always our aim to score points and we knew we had the pace to do it, but nevertheless to finally get there gives a great feeling. Tonio drove a superb race, matching the pace of the top teams in front, and it is certainly encouraging for the coming races. Adrian was unlucky and I know he will be disappointed not to have been able to capitalise on his starting position, but the season is long and he is hungry so I do not think he will have to wait long for his turn.

Force India – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying and Final Free Practice Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
FP3: 11th  1:55.521  (13 laps)
Q1: 3rd 1:55.213  (7 laps)
Q2: 8th 1:54.996  (6 laps)
Q3: 10th 1:56.309  (3 laps)

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
FP3: 9th 1:55.432  (11 laps)
Q1: 10th 1:55.628  (7 laps)
Q2: 12th 1:55.653  (6 laps)

The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix with both cars in the top 12. Tonio Liuzzi will start from 12th position, his best starting slot since the Italian GP 2009, while Adrian Sutil will line up in tenth after entering into Q3. With a view to the race strategy tomorrow, in which drivers starting in the top ten must start the race on the tyres on which they qualified, Adrian made his final run of the last session on the harder tyre compound, the only driver in Q3 to do so.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
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. 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.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
I am a bit disappointed as we didn’t know what had happened to the car since free practice. In the morning it seemed to have a pretty good balance and we didn’t change very much but then we went into qualifying and we had a problem with the traction. That was the main reason we couldn’t go through to Q3. Now we have to work on this and understand what happened but we believe in the race that we should be really strong as yesterday we were quick on the longer runs.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
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. 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!

Force India – Bahrain Grand Prix free practice 3 report

Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi again put in a strong performance in the final free practice ahead of qualifying. Tonio secured the ninth quickest time while Adrian was just behind in 11th.

With the track slippery and debris-laden from the earlier support races both drivers did not make their initial baseline runs until midway through the session to allow the track to clean. After runs on the harder Bridgestone Potenza tyres the pair then switched back to the option tyres for the final run. Tonio completed 11 laps while Adrian put in 13.

Fernando Alonso was the quickest runner of the session ahead of Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber.

1. F. Alonso, Ferrari, 1:53.099 (14 laps)
2. N. Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:54.368 (13 laps)
3. M. Webber, Red Bull, 1:54.500 (15 laps)

9. V. Liuzzi, Force India, 1:55.432 (11 laps)
11. A. Sutil, Force India, 1:55.521 (13 laps)

Force India – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
FP1: 1st  1:56.583  (18 laps)
FP2: 12th 1:57.361  (29 laps)

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
FP1: 7th 1:57.194  (19 laps)
FP2: 14th 1:57.833  (29 laps)

The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, one of the most eagerly anticipated seasons in recent memory, finally got underway today with two 90 minute sessions at a sun-drenched Sakhir circuit in the heart of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi put the Force India’s new challenger, the VJM03, through its paces at the extended 6.299km track and initial findings were encouraging. The morning’s programme focussed on shorter runs, prime tyre evaluation and establishing a baseline set-up in the hot conditions expected this weekend. Adrian Sutil put in a strong performance to secure the fastest time of the 90 minute precursor to Sunday’s race, 0.183secs quicker than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Tonio Liuzzi also demonstrated the pace of the VJM03 with the seventh quickest time.

In the afternoon the pair concentrated on longer runs and comparisons of the two tyre compounds available this weekend. Again the pace was promising, and at the close of the session Adrian held the 12th quickest time while Tonio was just behind in 14th.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
It’s time to race now after so long out of the car! This morning we were checking all the systems and set-up we learnt over testing but nobody really knew where we were going to be. It’s our goal to get two cars through to Q3 for this weekend and I think we now have a very good baseline with the car and good downforce compared to last year. We can be a top ten runner with this car this year and myself and Tonio are working well together. If we can qualify in the top ten now it can lead to decent points, which is, at the end of the day, what we want to do consistently this season. I would say it’s a promising start to get there, for sure.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
Overall it was a positive day and we got through all the programme. We learnt quite a lot about the car with these kind of hot conditions, which we weren’t able to do in the cool of the winter testing. The car is reacting well to different fuel loads and to different tyres and overall we can be pretty happy with the results at the end of this first Friday. I think we are in a good way for tomorrow. For sure we could improve our single lap time, but the race pace looks good. A positive start to the weekend.

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
Our objectives today were to assess cooling, brakes and tyres for this event whilst working a little on set-up, downforce level and ratio selection and testing a couple of new items on the car in FP1. We’re pleased with the results and I think that our tyre management in the hot conditions looks good. The circuit changes for this year’s race are a definite positive for the event and should make for a good race on Sunday.

Force India – Bahrain Grand Prix free practice 1 report

The Force India F1 Team opened its 2010 campaign today in the first of the practice sessions at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Adrian Sutil put in a strong performance to secure the fastest time of the 90 minute precursor to Sunday’s race, a 1min 56.583, 0.183secs quicker than Ferrari’s title pretender Fernando Alonso. Tonio Liuzzi also demonstrated the pace of the VJM03 with the seventh quickest time.

Both Adrian and Tonio concentrated on establishing a baseline for the rest of the weekend, learning the new circuit configuration and gaining as much information on the tyre performance around the 6.299km track. Adrian completed 18 laps, with Tonio putting in just one lap more.

A further 90 minute session will follow this afternoon.
1. A. Sutil, Force India, 1:56.583 (18 laps)
2. F. Alonso, Ferrari, 1:56.766 (18 laps)
3. R. Kubica, Renault, 1:57.041 (19 laps)

7. V. Liuzzi, Force India, 1:57.194 (19 laps)

Force India – Bahrain Grand Prix Preview

2010 marks the third year of competition in the FIA Formula One World Championship for the Force India F1 Team. After a positive finish to 2009, the team is hoping this season will be the one that firmly establishes it as a strong, competitive outfit regularly challenging for points and podiums whenever possible.

Consistency has been the key this year: Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi are retained as drivers and the team’s technical package is an evolution of last year’s increasingly competitive car. Paul di Resta, from Scotland, strengthens the driver line-up as test and reserve driver. Paul will participate in some free practice sessions this year, although not Bahrain as the race drivers will need to learn the new track configuration.

Over winter testing the team fared well, completing 12 days of testing and more than 4,000km and is now looking forward to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Team Q&A
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What are your thoughts ahead of what could be a crucial season for Force India?
We finished 2009 on a real high note – our first-ever points, a podium and one place up in the constructors’ championship. That is enough in itself to set the bar much higher this season, but we’re really determined to take it to the next level. Regular points and the odd podium have got to be the aim and we know it is possible. I have a lot of faith in the drivers and the technical staff, I think we’ve got into a very good rhythm together now.

Have you been encouraged by the performance over the winter?
I have been very encouraged by the entire performance, both at the track and at the factory. The testing times gave very positive headlines, but it is very difficult to know where we are until we get to Bahrain. Certainly however the initial reports from the drivers are encouraging and when that happens it’s worth another three to four tenths – if they feel happy and confident in the car then that they can really attack.

What is it that has made the difference this year for Force India?
The key point was that last year we had a good baseline car and we improved throughout the year in a very structured manner. In the second part of the season we were very successful – at times we even had a potential winning car – and with that in mind we went into the winter and developed this foundation as much as possible. That stability is crucial and we have been able to focus 100% on emphasising the strong points while addressing the weaker areas. I think Mark [Smith] and his team have done an excellent job.

Driver Q&A
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03)
Adrian, you’ve now finished the VJM03’s winter testing programme – how did this go?
The baseline car we have now after 12 days of testing looks very good and promising. The changes we have made during the winter have all had a positive effect. Testing went well and although there was a lot of rain over the period, the last two days in Barcelona were OK. We did our long runs and a lot of work with the tyres so we are fully prepared. We are pretty confident that our car is good enough to be in the top ten in Bahrain.

From the testing, it is possible to see how the competition is faring?
You can see a little bit, but you can’t be 100% sure as you never know what the other teams are doing with their programme. That said, you can tell that some of the big teams like McLaren and Ferrari look very strong on both the long runs and qualifying runs and are always on the top of the timesheets. I am expecting them to be on the top again in the race weekend but we are not far away and that’s a really good sign.

One new addition to the team is a new team-mate for you in the form of Paul di Resta. You’ve raced against him before?
Yes, it was a long time ago, but in F3 in 2005 we raced against each other. I think he is a very good driver and it’s great to have him on board in the team as he can help develop the car with us. He will do some Friday sessions too so will get some experience, it’s a good opportunity for everyone.

Looking forward to Bahrain, what would be a good result for you?
Hopefully in the top ten and I think that should be possible. I would hope we could score a few points. For everything else, it is very difficult to say what else will happen, but I am fine with any position within the top 10 – that’s my goal for the moment.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01)
You covered a lot of kilometres in pre-season testing. How did that go for you?
I had five and a half days in the car and I learnt a lot of things about the car over this time. We had several test items to get to the optimum level for the start of the season and generally every item we tested had a positive effect. The car responds very well to any change, it’s definitely going in the right direction. For sure the weather didn’t help, but fortunately the car showed formidable reliability and performance, so in my mind there is a really strong preparation for Bahrain and the rest of the season.

How would you judge this car compared to the other cars you have driven in your career?
In my five years of F1 this is definitely the best car I’ve driven, It’s the most balanced, and knowing that has made me feel so much stronger and confident. Of course you can never know exactly where you are compared to the others but we can go to Bahrain feeling optimistic and positive.

And Bahrain has a new track lay-out. Have you had a chance to look at this?
I’ve had a look on Google earth and on the simulator. I think they have just made it much longer and slower and I’m not a big fan of this type of track as I love high speed corners and circuits. I don’t think there will be any more overtaking opportunities as the track goes through too tight an area. But it’s the same for everybody and we need to get used it. We’ll see when we walk the track on Thursday.

What are your aims for this race?
For the first race we want to show that our winter work has paid off. Points are our target for the time being and getting into the top ten, as high as possible. Being realistic, a few points should be feasible and hopefully everything goes as well as in testing with good reliability for the first race.

Paul di Resta, test and reserve driver
Paul, it must have been a bit of a whirlwind since February when you were announced as the test and reserve driver. What have you been doing since then?
It’s certainly been busy! I’ve been in Spain during all the F1 tests and it’s been quite a hectic schedule with three tests in three weeks. I’ve also spent some time at the factory, getting to know the team and the engineers and generally settling in. I had two half days in the car in quite difficult rainy conditions, which was not ideal, but I did at least learn about what to expect when it does rain and how to find that level when you need to change tyres: hopefully it’s something I will have to deal with later in my career. But it’s nice to get a feeling for the car going into the season, the strong points and how we deal with weaker spots. Any experience for me at the moment is valuable.

You’ve also been testing the DTM cars as well, sometimes switching literally overnight. How has that been going – has it given you a taster of how things will go this year when you are swapping F1 for DTM?
F1 and DTM are quite different to each other but so far I have done a switch from F1 to DTM and then one back again. The last time I didn’t even notice it had happened, so already I am learning how to deal with it. Both cars require a different mindset but I am sure I will be able to do it with more experience without really having to think about it.

What are your feelings heading into Bahrain?
For sure I am very excited. It’s a great thrill to be going there as part of an F1 team. Although I’m not going to be driving during free practice, Bahrain is a great track, I’ve raced there before in F3, and I can’t wait to get on the plane and head off for the first weekend.  I’m realistic there are lots of challenges ahead of us and only in Bahrain will we really know where car is on the field, but everyone is very excited to see this. I can’t wait.

28-Feb-10: Hamilton Leads Final Day of Testing

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 28th February 2010 – a special edition to cover the fourth and final day of pre-season testing.

Lewis Hamilton was fastest on the last day in Barcelona, and he completed the most number of laps with 134. He was only a couple of hundredths faster than Webber in second though, and Massa and Sutil weren’t that far behind either. Further down the order, Kubica finished up tenth for Renault, whilst Kovalainen pipped di Grassi to finish Lotus ahead of Virgin by just under a second. Lotus had a good morning but had gearbox troubles in the afternoon, whilst Virgin were still struggling with hydraulic problems – but as mentioned previously, they’re hoping their pre-Bahrain upgrade will sort that out.

Massa has been talking about Ferrari’s progress so far and said: “I’m satisfied with the whole of testing, not just Barcelona. We did what we wanted to do, but it looks like it will be a very tough and competitive championship.” He also added: “I’m 100% sure that I will never have a problem with Fernando.” Just wanted to highlight that, in case it comes back to haunt him.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with your regular F1 Minute.

Force India testing concludes in Barcelona

Adrian Sutil brought the Force India F1 Team’s 2010 winter testing programme to a close at the Circuit de Catalunya today. The German ended the testing on a high with the fourth quickest time of the day, 0.139secs behind Lewis Hamilton.

Adrian worked through a full race programme today in anticipation of the start of the 2010 championship in just two weeks’ time. He conducted a race simulation and qualifying runs, in addition to aero and brake work.

With a combined total of approximately 4,000km and 12 days of testing under its belt, the team will now head back to Silverstone to finalise preparations for the Bahrain Grand Prix on 14 March.

Adrian Sutil
I feel like this was the first proper test day for me. We did our long race simulation and I think we can be quite happy and confident. The pace was good, the tyre life was very good, and I was able to run a lot of laps on both the soft and the hard tyres without any problems so both compounds seem to be working really well for us. Also the qualifying sim went well. Speed-wise the car is competitive and we have to show it in Bahrain now.

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
This morning was very windy, and it was affecting the balance of the car quite a lot. We changed our programme because of this, completing some long run evaluations either side of lunch and some performance outings in the afternoon with Adrian. He also tested some different brake materials and some developments for the brake cooling. It was a good day to complete our 2010 winter testing programme, covering 100 laps and signing off our pre-season test objectives. The team has worked extremely hard these past four days and they deserve credit for a very intensive February of running.

Testing data
Driver:   Adrian Sutil
Track:   Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Best lap time:  1:20.611
Laps completed: 100
Kilometres completed: 467km
Air temperature:  High of 19 C
Track temperature: High of 23 C
Weather:  Overcast but no rain

Liuzzi Opens Final Force India Test in Barcelona

Tonio Liuzzi was on driving duty for Force India on the opening day of the four day test at the Circuit de Catalunya, the final test ahead of the start of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Weather conditions were significantly better than the previous two weeks’ tests in Jerez and Tonio was able to complete 65 laps without major issue. Several red flag periods interrupted some of the team’s planned running, however his best lap of 1:24.064 was still the sixth quickest of the day. With track conditions relatively ‘green’ Tonio’s programme principally concentrated on pit stop practice and drills and general set-up work.

Tonio will remain in the car for a second day tomorrow before Adrian Sutil takes over on Saturday.

Tonio Liuzzi
Once we realised the track was really green and not good enough to conduct some useful testing, we concentrated on set-up and pit stop practice to get back into the rhythm of a race weekend. Overall it was quite OK but we concentrated a lot on the pit stop practice to get the guys back up to speed. Tomorrow will be where we move to look at performance and long runs so it should be a more representative day regarding the pace of the new car.

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
The first day of our final pre-season test was concentrated on race team pitstop practice, with simulations of live race stops and various different race scenarios conducted through the day. The circuit conditions weren’t particularly good today, and tomorrow will be used to continue our set-up and development programme.

Testing data
Driver: Tonio Liuzzi
Track: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Best lap time: 1:24.064
Laps completed: 65
Kilometres completed: 303km
Air temperature: High of 18 C
Track temperature: High of 27 C
Weather: Warm and sunny

Liuzzi Concludes Jerez Test for Force India

Tonio Liuzzi brought the VJM03’s second test to a close today at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit. The Italian covered 80 laps of the Spanish track with a programme that included work on set-up and understanding the car’s behaviour with the heavier fuel loads necessitated by the race refuelling ban this year. His fastest lap of 1:19.650 was the fourth quickest of the day.

The team’s testing programme will now move to Barcelona next week from 25 – 28 February. Tonio will drive for the first two days, with Adrian Sutil taking over for the final two days.

Tonio Liuzzi
Today was a really productive day for us. We covered 80 laps without any issues and got through our programme of test items for this week. Everything went pretty well – we worked on understanding the car’s performance with different fuel loads and ran through some set-up changes and the car is responding well. We still need to work on the tyres over the longer runs and will continue this at the next test in Barcelona. Overall I think we can be very satisfied with how this test has gone and can look forward to another good test next week.

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
A good day to finish the eight days of testing in Jerez. Tonio completed a broad programme of set-up tests and we are satisfied with what was learned. We’ve made good progress this week, having tidied up some reliability issues, and developed our set-up options with the VJM03. The team has begun its race preparation in earnest and we will head to Barcelona to continue this work over the final test before the first race of 2010.

Testing data
Driver: Tonio Liuzzi
Track: Circuito de Jerez, Spain
Best lap time: 1:19.650
Laps completed: 80
Kilometres completed: 355km
Air temperature: High of 16C
Track temperature: High of 24C
Weather: Sunny spells

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