The Force India pit exploded with joy as Giancarlo Fisichella gave the team its first ever pole position.
It was the first pole position for the team in its current form. The Silverstone-based squad last had a car on pole at the Nurburgring in 1999 for the European Grand Prix.
That was when the team was still Jordan. Since then it has gone through two other identities – MidlandF1 and Spyker – without setting a pole position.
It remains to be seen how much fuel Fisichella has for tomorrow’s race. But he stands an excellent chance of scoring the team’s first point – something they’ve come close to doing in the past, but haven’t managed yet.
For Fisichella it was his first pole position since the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang – which was also the occasion of his last F1 win. If he manages to do that tomorrow, expect the scene of jubilation to exceed even these:
Read more: Giancarlo Fisichella stuns with Spa pole position (Belgian Grand Prix qualifying)
Images (C) Force India F1 Team
Leaf
29th August 2009, 15:40
Pleasant surprises are very cool. Fisi has always seemed like a pretty normal, nice guy.
You know Force India is not going to be involved in the race for chamionship this year, so to see them make steady progress with a huge surprise like this is even more gratifying. This is why we enjoy F1.
Can’t imagine anyone not feeling good about todays qualifying result for both Fisi and the Force India team. Good, no…Great job guys.
Superbus
29th August 2009, 18:14
Yeah I’m not even a fan of Force India but this made me feel really good :P Feels like the guys at the team deserved this.
Arun.India
29th August 2009, 15:40
Really super happy for them!!!!!!Go Fisi Go!!!!
Journeyer (@journeyer)
29th August 2009, 15:40
Sutil looks like he’s thinking why it couldn’t have been him.
Liuzzi looks happy because it strengthen’s Fisi’s chances to move to Ferrari – and for him to take Fisi’s race seat.
mp4-19b
29th August 2009, 15:46
well done, you spotted it!!
mm
29th August 2009, 16:17
great to see true emotion in achieving something they would never have imagined possible at the current time. Hope they get some points tomorrow at the least.
ankur
29th August 2009, 18:15
gr8 job guys.
Xanathos
29th August 2009, 16:20
“Since then it has gone through two other identities – MidlandF1 and Spyker – without setting a pole position.”
That’s a bit of an understatement ;)
AndrewT
29th August 2009, 16:46
after that pole position, what do you guys think, will it be a good choice for fisi to change to ferrari?
it will be only 3 races, as massa could turn back in brazil, and i don’t think he could earn his seat back from liuzzi for the last two races. and what about next year…? tricky situation…
sumedh
29th August 2009, 17:12
Force India’s performance this season has been closely mirroring that of Toro Rosso last season. Slowly improving, and coming alive in the final part of the season.
Lets hope Force India register their first win soon.
Luke
29th August 2009, 19:08
Absolutely brilliant. Well done Force India. Lets hope you can turn this into a possible podium and/or points.
Good luck Sutil too. He is in a pretty good position there with quite a bit of fuel on!
PrashF1Fan
30th August 2009, 0:50
its pleasantly surprising to see Force India on the top for a change. The crew now dont have to walk all the lane down to the last.
I really hope Fisi will end up in points and hopefully in the podium. This is their best chance.
Go Fisi
F1Pretender
30th August 2009, 16:22
It was great to see some mixed results in this race and congratulations to Raikkonen. It would have been fantastic if Fisichella had won and he clearly had a faster car.
Bad luck for Red Bull’s Webber with the drive through penalty. Nice drive by Vettel to get on the Podium.