Go Force India

Adrian Sutil’s heroics at the Monaco GP had greatly albeit briefly breathed hope in Force India fans and the teams camp, its all but gone now, the French GP saw them taking the checkered flag 18th and 19th. On this day (actually that day yesterday) Fisichella was the better of two, 18th. To be honest, no body - not the fans, the broadcasting channels/producers, commenters really care for what Force India is doing, having a team named “Force India” (”why force india” “why force india” “why force india”?????!!! :|) has changed nothing in F1, the battles at the sharp end are much more fun whatwith so much going on:

• Massa in great form
• Two new teams becoming competitive; Toyota and BMW
• Then there’s the new twist of Mclaren struggling
• Also, it remains to be seen what the reining world champ Fernando Alonso will be able to do in his home team, Renault.

As far as Force India and its drivers are concerned, its important to understand that they aren’t racing against the other teams really, view it as Fisi and Sutil racing each other and then maybe it’ll be some fun.

Anyway, here are the results of the French GP 2008:

1. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 70 laps 1:31:50.245 –> Winner

2. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +17.9

3. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +28.2

4. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +28.9

5. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +30.5

6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +40.3

7. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +41.0

8. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +43.3

9. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault +51.0

10. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +54.5

11. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +57.7

12. Sebastian Vettel Germany Toro Rosso-Ferrari +58.0

13. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +62.0

14. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda-Honda +1 lap

15. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +1 lap

16. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +1 lap

17. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

18. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Ferrari +1 lap

19. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Ferrari +1 lap

Rtd. Jenson Button Britain Honda-Honda 16 laps completed

“The team were all frustrated with the [Monaco] result, but there are 12 races and therefore 12 chances left that we now need to concentrate on,” Kolles said.

“Canada, like Monaco, could be a good race for us with all teams developing special aero and mechanical packages that will only be used in this one race.

“With safety car periods and rain also a possibility you could see some surprises too.”

He also warned Sutil not to get carried away with what he achieved in Monaco.

“Adrian’s confidence is now high, and I think he will carry this forward, but we need to focus on this weekend and not let the highs of Monaco cloud what we have to do here,” said Kolles.

Team co-owner Vijay Mallya added that Force India must get itself into a position where it doesn’t have to rely on unusual circumstances, but for the time being should ensure it gets the most from every opportunity that comes its way.

“What we need to do now is to show that we can do this kind of race in every event, not just if the exceptional circumstances allow,” Mallya said.

“I am sure that, given this kind of confidence and motivation that is now surging through the team, other great performances will follow, but in Canada we have to do what we can: stay together, keep it together and focus on getting the best result possible.”
let’s just hope that montreal proves a good outing for our Force India boys as well

It was nine laps from the chequered flag when Raikkonen struck from behind. Adrian Sutil’s exuberant drive at Monaco - which took him from being 18th on the grid to an almost-certain fourth place.

With the crash went the dream of five world championship points. But there is always a silver lining. Sutil was widely hailed a hero and he heads to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix with his reputation revitalized…

Here is an interview with Adrian where he talks about the disappointing Monaco GP, the team’s strategy for Monaco and the upcoming races, the team’s VJM01 car and himself: (Source - Official F1 website)

Q: Adrian, you’ve had a week for the events of Monaco to sink in. How do you now reflect on that fateful moment?
Adrian Sutil: The great support from Force India, sponsors, my manager and all the sympathies of my fans made it much easier for me accept what happened. It is compelling how many fans wrote in my guest book. It must have been more than 700 in the past seven days.

Q: Going from 18th on the grid all the way to fourth; overtaking 16 cars including Heikki Kovalainen; fending off Kimi Raikkonen - were you already counting the points in your head as you were driving?
AS: No, I just tried to be concentrated all the time. For sure it was unbelievable when my engineer told me over the radio, ‘You’re lapping Kovalainen, you’re not racing him. Just overtake him’. And when I heard, ‘Massa is in front of you and Kimi is behind you,’ I felt really, really good.

Q: You may not have scored any points, but for many people you were the true ‘winner’ of the Monaco race. Does that help you overcome the frustration?
AS: Yeah, the great response and all the congratulations from almost all the F1 team principals and TV experts made me very proud as it indicates that my drive will help me to go further in F1.

Q: How surprised were you that it was an apparent lapse of concentration from the reigning champion that ended your hopes? And did he come to see you afterwards?
AS: Things like this do happen, even with world champions. Kimi had a bad weekend, but he is one of the best F1 drivers and I do have a lot of respect for him. He came to me and gave his apology to me. I’m sure that he is really sorry that he could not avoid the accident.

Q: So far the Force India VJM01 has not been a top-end performer - what happened in Monaco? What was your set-up secret?
AS: I felt it already in the morning when I saw out of my window. Rain was expected and I had the feeling ‘today could be my day’. The car was well prepared, the strategy was perfect and my team did a fantastic job. It’s not only sad for me, it’s really sad for my mechanics and engineers. It would have been so nice celebrating with my guys a fourth place in Monaco. From the start I had a fantastic feeling in the car and was sure to make a perfect race. I love the Monaco race and when it’s wet anything is possible, as we saw.

Q: It was a bit of a gamble to go for only one stop, but it paid off. When was the strategy decided - and what were the key factors in that decision?
AS: We decided finally in the morning. Coming from 18th and having wet conditions made the decision quite easy.

Q: Seeing that you can do it if the car and the conditions are right must be a huge motivation boost for the coming races - for the team too, as they did a fantastic job…
AS: Yeah, for sure it will help. But we do have to keep our feet on the ground - and we should not dream. Chances like this do not come so often. And if I’m honest, it will be very difficult for us in the next races. We are the only team that does not have a new car. We still drive with the ‘07 car. So we will push and do whatever is possible. But it will be difficult this year to have consistently good results.

Q: Was Monaco a one-off golden opportunity, or do you see other tracks that could hold similar chances? And is a wet track essential?
AS: Well, with wet conditions for sure the chances are much better. There will come some tracks like Spa, Valencia, Singapore, and my home GP in Hockenheim, where I do hope to have good results.

Q: You have proved yourself once more - is it a load off your mind? And how will that translate for this weekend’s race in Montreal?
AS: My boss Vijay Mallya and (team principal) Colin Kolles gave me all the time and the support that I needed. I never had the impression that my berth in F1 would be endangered. But for sure the Monaco weekend gave me a big push, which hopefully I can translate into a respectable result in Montreal.

For any racing team, the drivers are its face and as Vijay Mallya announced in a glitzy event held in Mumbai on the 12th of January, the drivers for Force India:

1. The former Renault driver, Giancarlo Fisichella who has 12 years of F1 experience and has driven for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber and Renault.

2. With him is the up-and-coming German Adrian Sutil who is just in his second year in F1.

Both have pretty good things to boast about in their resumes and that’s what got them the heavily contested (and well paid) driving spot for the Force India F1 team. Fisichella has won 3 races in his career, and is an experienced driver, but he was always overshadowed by Alonso when driving for Renault. Adrian Sutil claimed his first championship point in the Japanese Grand Prix of 2006 driving for the Spyker F1 team. For Fisichella, this is his chance to make a name for himself and be the no.1 driver in the Force India team.

The 28-year-old Vitantonio Liuzzi who has 3 years of experience in F1 and was earlier associated with Red Bull and Toro Ross, is the test and reserve driver. The other Test-Drivers are R Rodriguez, G van der Garde.

Though the team is at the tail end at least at the moment, driving it’s car still is fun. The Ferrari Engines must surely be capable of delivering some serious Horse Power. But it needs to be controlled and used well with a good chasis design and some inspired driving.

Pros like Michael Schumacher, Kimi, Alonso etc make racing an F1 car look easy but easy is the one thing racing an F1 car isn’t; There’s under steer, over steer and then there are the bumps which are the ones that are the toughest to deal with.
The next time you watch an F1 race, note especially the strain each corner puts on their necks, you have to be super fit to take all this. Also, note that this is just a simulation but the drivers still experience the ‘G’ forces sidewards and backwards & forwards, it’s no joke to be a good F1 driver. Still the cars touch 300 kph routinely and what wouldn’t we give to be in the drivers place man?

It is a bit disappointing that the Force India F1 team will not have an Indian driver at the wheel at least not in 2008. One India driver — Karun Chandok, winner of Formula Asia V6 and currently driver for Durango Corse team in the GP2 series according to the Wikipedia page on him is being touted as a probable choice for 2009 but for now, we Indian F1 fans have to be contented with Giancarlo and Adrian driving for our team.

The wild speculation regarding the driver’s choice which included names like Ralf Schumacher and jacques villeneuve, only ended when Dr. Mallya announced the choice of drivers. His words were frosty about the reason for the choice:

“The engineering team needs to benefit from the drivers. We had to choose the driver to fit the purpose. No Indian driver did,”

But maybe he just buckled under the pressure from the engineering guys in the team or the FIA or whatever. The team should have maybe given Narain Karthikeyan a drive if only just for sentimental and patriotic reasons and for the added publicity. One would imagine that if he {Narain} was good enough to drive for Eddie Jordan’s {Former World Champ} team then he was certainly good enough to drive as a second fiddle to the other guy that may have been chosen. Poor old Narain Karthikeyan has disappeared all together from the news lately. Actually not all together, he can be seen driving around with Dhoni to Manali and Jaipur in the Speed Petrol T.V advert but that’s a different matter now isn’t it.

At the end of the day, to be successful in professional racing, each member of a team must contribute — giving his 100% be it the pit mechanics, the guys who sit on the pit wall monitoring stats on everything going on, team boses, anybody though it is a different matter that for the fans, the most important of all are the drivers. The best example perhaps is Michael Schumacher who was the most important driver and face of Ferrari in the recent decade or maybe all of Ferrari’s history. Coming back to Force India, in my view Force India has had the luck to get pretty good drivers. These guys can at least drive around an F1 car lap after lap and favorably move out of the way when the blue flags are waved …

Technorati Tags: force india, drivers, fisichella, sutil, f1

The Monaco GP this week was awesome with all the rain and safety car conditions, cars were stacked close to each other for so much of the race and there were battles going on up and down the grid. And in all of this Sutil was lost somewhere while he was making progress, they only focused on him at the end part of the race.

This is so typical of the coverage of F1 we get. the back markers are ignored every single GP weekend, I mean they are always just showing what the Ferrari’s, the Mclaren’s and what Alonso is doing, the rest of the guys get short changed when it comes to TV coverage. Paradoxically, this also makes the point that if you want to be on TV, you must be at the sharp end, at least Sutil will now understand it; heck everywhere, people were talking about the sad end to his race!! And yet, Force India and the rest of the back markers got little TV time while the Monaco GP, wish the broadcast would be more even in the future and that they try and show all the fights for positions up and down the grid.