Second-fastest Sutil says pace is “real”

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Adrian Sutil said the pace of the new Force India in the final day of F1 testing in Jerez is a true reflection of the car’s potential.

Speaking after the test he said:

I was not completely light, it’s not our goal to do that because there’s no reason to do that in our first real day of testing. I think nobody really went super-light today. We saw a few cars yesterday that maybe were a bit lighter than everybody else.

We concentrated on our programme and it was a real lap time for us.
Adrian Sutil

Sutil believes the VJM03’s performance around the tight Jerez track shows the new car will not share its predecessors’ trait of only being strong on fast circuits:

Our problem last year was the car was only really quick in certain places like Belgium, where there was a lot of long straights.

But now we’ve got some efficient downforce, we’ve kept the speed in the straight line, so we will be really strong on particular circuits again but hopefully also on slower speed circuis where you require a little more downforce. Jerez is one of those and the car looked really good so I have a good feeling.
Adrian Sutil

With the two fastest times on the final times set by Mercedes-powered cars Sutil also reckons his team have one of the best engines on the grid:

I think it’s the most complete engine, linked to the gearbox from McLaren, I think the package works really well. It’s the same as what we had last year. It’s probably the best engine at the moment together with the Ferrari.
Adrian Sutil

Although the day’s running was largely dry, low temperatures at the track meant all the drivers struggled with tyre graining. Sutil said:

The soft tyre was lasting a few laps and then it was graining. I think there we have to learn how to treat them better – there are several ways you can avoid the graining or prevent it for a little bit longer. But at some point the graining will come especially in these kinds of conditions because the track was not good today.

The hard tyre worked a bit better. Normally you expect no problem with the hard tyre but still today the graining came in and it was difficult to handle.
Adrian Sutil

He added:

It’s given me an extra push now having seen on the circuit how the car is. It was even better than I thought. I’m optimistic.

I don’t want to speak about victories or podiums. We will try our best but we need to see where everybody else is, it’s hard to say who did which times on which fuel. You can guess a little bit and see with some teams how they’re doing, but we’re not far away. Certainly we can achieve a lot of points this year.
Adrian Sutil

Next week Sutil will share his first day of running with third driver Paul di Resta. Sutil will have the second day of the test to himself before handing over to Vitantonio Liuzzi.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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29 comments on “Second-fastest Sutil says pace is “real””

  1. STRFerrari4Ever
    13th February 2010, 23:43

    Great to hear from Sutil Force India could be a dark horse this season they had a good base to build on and hopefully for them they’ve resolved their downforce issues and have an all round better car.

  2. I hope Sutil does well this season. Partly because I like him, partly because I want to see what excuses Joe Saward comes up with if he beats Liuzzi…

    (for those who don’t know what I’m on about, Joe Saward is a British F1 journalist who doesn’t rate Sutil but- and this is an understatement- quite likes Liuzzi)

    1. I like how he admitted that he wrote about Porsche joining F1 “just in case” but turns out they’re buying KERS from Williams!!

    2. I think both Liuzzi and Sutil aren’t very good. Does that help?

      1. Sutil is worse IMO!.

        Highly overrated…

        those Mclaren switch rumours sounded very hillarious to be back then!

        1. Sutil can show moments of promise but it’s never often enough and too many errors and misfortune have got in the way. He’s going to really struggle to start finding a better drive if he can’t show he can give a bit more. I like him and he has experience but he will struggle to progress when there are a lot of rising stars and plentystar drivers fighting for top seats as it is and he just doesn’t seem to have that edge.

          1. I think the problem with Sutil can be paralleled with what Hamilton dealt with in the early MP4-25. When you’re in a dog of a car, you tend to over drive it, and you’ll make mistakes. The few times he didn’t have to handle the VJM-02 like a greased pig, he put the car in good positions. If he’s in a car he’s actually comfortable with, I expect him to show pretty good pace.

  3. I’m quite surprised the teams that were at valencia did not seem to have a visible advantage today.

    1. they know they have the pace, and they focus on other things. At barcelona we’ll see the real deal.

  4. Force India are going to end up creating a lot of hype and underperform,in my opinion..

    Sutil just did 10 lap runs mostly and his fast laps usually were the beginning ones..and then his pace wore off (even on considerably short laps)..I think they’re getting too excited and running short stints and going behind times..

    Also,by Sutil’s own admission,they still havent done a race simulation..

    A huge fan of FI,hope they dont disappoint..

    1. did u read the article..? he says the tyres were graining after a few laps… that would explain exaclty why the first few would be fast and then only 10 lap total before coming in

      1. But why would they grain only on the Force India?? Does driver skill have anything to do with it??

        Like Schumacher said, the top teams’ times stay in and around the same range,how come FI’s drops off after 4-5 laps??

    2. That’s a pretty lame statement, did you read the article above? Yeah, the one at the start of this page, cuz it doesn’t seem like you did!
      They were constantly putting in consistent times on the 1st three days, I’d been talking to team everyday, they didn’t want to do any low fuel fast laps which are useless. On the last day, they were really on the pace and that’s what everyone witnessed. You think Lewis came out in the end with an empty tank and pulled out a 1m19s just to show that he’s faster…? NO! He was on the pace… mate, this is F1, not some stupid schoolboy race… they don’t do things to show off for a day! Darn!!!

  5. Funny how when a cars at the top of the times it’s “real” and when it’s lower down it’s “too early to judge”

  6. What would they prefer, consistant points finishes, or one win all season?

  7. you will never hear a race car driver complaining about his car before the season starts.

    1. Lewis Hamilton about the mp4-24

      1. Not before the season started.

        1. Wasn’t his 1st response in testing it feels like the wheels aren’t connected to the steering wheel in faster corners?

          1. The drivers want to keep their jobs though. They will not bad mouth the team before the season because they don’t want sacked!

  8. I think Force India will perform better than the last year & better than the new teams.

    1. And Renault. I think they’ll be challenging top 10!!

  9. Senor Sutil , por que no te callas?!! This guy is known for erratic driving right from his days in the junior series. Now he is making me believe he has a chance of podium?

    Can’t just believe FI can make it to the podium this season….. of course, all things being equal :-)

    1. They already had a podium last year, so why would it not be possible…

  10. Gee is anyone going to stand up for Mr. Sutil…..?
    ?
    OK….Monaco ’08…not too bad, and Monza last year?

    Seriously, if you found yourself in a constantly under performing car any driver worth their salt would be pushing up to, if not over, the limit…on a regular basis! After all, spinning off while running 10 places out of the points isn’t the same as dropping off the road from the lead. For a comparison, just think of the mistakes that Hamilton made in his championship year; and that ended up being a case of forgive and forget.

    I’d rather have a driver who is going for it, and live with the attendant results, as opposed to one who sees themselves stuck in a rolling bathtub and just decides to stop making waves.

    Let’s wait to see how he performs in a competent car.

    1. Losers are never remembered. It does not matter if he finished more races than Hammy.

  11. We will not now anything from testing. we will not learn a thing. Wait until Bahrain. Then we’ll see who’s blagging and whose not.

  12. Hi Guys,

    I believe that Sutil may not be a great driver…but certainly decent enuf to be competing …just hope he gets a good car to perform better….coz everybody likes to see and underdog perform..and he is one !!!!

  13. This feels overall encouraging for Force India. I hope Sutil can build on last years results…

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