Di Resta handed debut point for Force India

25 comments on “Di Resta handed debut point for Force India”

1. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   28th March 2011, 16:54

   I must say Di Resta impressed with how quick he got to grips with the car and track. He would have been at least close and maybe in front of Sutil even without that spin.

   And no mistakes in the race. Letting your teammate by to best use his tyre strategy is perfectly OK, i think. And a bit of luck with Sauber getting itself DSQ.
   The results look better than expected from FI so far.
   1. 

      Fixy (@)
      28th March 2011, 17:58

      He was very close to Sutil at his first race. Impressive!
2. 

   Tango
   28th March 2011, 16:56

   Force India have to step up. Fast! Their car was soundly beaten by the Saubers and Toro Rossos.
   1. 

      Rits
      30th March 2011, 7:34

      I quite agree but it turns out they’re not as slow as they looked in testing! They won’t rest now I’m sure. I hope they have some solid plans for the next 3 races or else Sauber and STR might chew up the points & FI would have to spend the rest of 2011 trying to play catch-up.
3. 

   bosyber
   28th March 2011, 17:15

   Force India were lucky to get those points, but that’s part of F1. They also don’t seem to be so far behind as testing seemed to indicate, so with some points under their belt, perhaps they now can work and find their way up the grid again. DiResta had a very good first race, no mistakes, solid pace, some action. Sutil seems to have lost his edge a bit, but maybe it is due to the car.
   1. 

      BBT (@bbt)
      29th March 2011, 13:00

      Di Resta:

      “I did make a few mistakes, especially on in-laps with the procedures that you have to go through. It didn’t look so much from the outside but I lost enough time to make a difference of me challenging other people.

      “But it’s new and so long as I don’t make the same mistake twice, I can move on from that.”

      ;-)
4. 

   Faraz (@faraz)
   28th March 2011, 17:24

   The Magazines better not rant on about him scoring a point he got them only because two cars ahead of him got disqualified.

   Anyway I am impressed by Di Resta kept himself composed throughout the weekend.
5. 

   James (@jamesf1)
   28th March 2011, 17:43

   It would seem that the pecking order of the midfield has really been shaken up this year.

   As an estimate, I would say that it’s Red Bull at the front, Mclaren slightly ahead of Ferrari as this stage, Renault ahead of Mercedes and leading the midfield, followed by Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams and Force India, then Lotus, Virgin and HRT

   I think the most entertainment will come from the middle pack this year, Renault through to Force India. Quite a bold prediction after only the first race, but it looks fairly clear at the moment
6. 

   King Six
   28th March 2011, 17:52

   The VJM04 isn’t seeming like as big a lemon as testing indicated. I think Sutil would have had a decent shout of Q3 had he not spun on that flying lap.

   They say they have big upgrades after China, but then everyone does. Well, nearly. Toro Rosso need to make the most of the advantage they have now. In the same way Force India took advantage of what they had over everyone in the midfield (except Renault) last season, at the beginning.

   I think Mallya wants to make sure the car is competitive by the time it reaches India
7. 

   RIISE (@riise)
   28th March 2011, 18:24

   I was a bit confused through the BBC coverage they kept saying Sutil is a highly regarded quick driver. I beg to differ on that one. I find him unpredictable and often ridiculously slow.
   1. 

      TFLB
      28th March 2011, 18:43

      I don’t think he’s ever been slow, and his reputation for unpredictability is for the most part from 2007-8 when he was pushing hard and out-performing a bad car.
   2. 

      AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
      28th March 2011, 18:51

      I think he had moments at the back end of 2009 but last year he really made very little impact.
   3. 

      Steph (@)
      28th March 2011, 19:28

      I seem to be agreeing with almost all of your comments today RIISE and this is yet another one I’m nodding my head at.
      1. 

         Mr draw
         28th March 2011, 20:02

         Why is Subtle “ridiculously slow”? I think he’s rather good, but Force India failed to develop the car throughout last year, so perhaps that’s why he looked unimpressive.
         1. 

            Solo (@solo)
            28th March 2011, 22:47

            Just put Sutil against a top driver and you will be shocked seeing him being quite slower.
            The guy couldn’t win against Fisi. Do you remember how slow Fisi loooked in-frond of Alonso?
            I bet if Sutil was in a Mclaren he would be worse than Kovalanien was. He will probably qualify a whole second and more behind Lewis.
            1. 

               OEL F1 (@oel-f1)
               29th March 2011, 12:06

               Alonso exist to destroy his teammates.
   4. 

      Rits
      30th March 2011, 7:28

      He might not be the Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel but he’s definitely not “ridiculously slow”! He is widely regarded as one of the quickest drivers on the grid for a reason. He is quick. He never had the chance to start at a top team and people who start with a top car learn a lot more and gain a lot more confidence than people who don’t get that chance. Unpredicatability is the way you look at it. Most of 07, 08 he was pushing like mad in what clearly was a dog of a car then and sometimes a bit over-enthusiastic, which caused errors.
      Not everyone is as consistent as Alonso or as gritty as Lewis or out and out fast as Vettel but that doesn’t mean they’re unpredictable, unreliable and “ridiculously” slow! He’s definitely prone to errors more than I’d like but calling him slow is just crazy!
8. 

   AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
   28th March 2011, 18:56

   Impressed with Di Resta and he strikes me as a strong driver and a quick learner. Those practise sessions have paid dividends for him, just hope he can make some real impact.
   1. 

      S.J.M (@sjm)
      28th March 2011, 19:28

      Agree, he looked composed all weekend and impressed. I think he’l give Sutil some scares this year, probably at the tailend of the season (so not to disrupt the team balance) but certainly benefits from being part of the teams as its testdriver last year. Someone who beat the current WDC in their junior years certainly is someone to keep an eye on.
9. 

   wasiF1 (@wasif1)
   29th March 2011, 3:51

   They did nothing wrong now raced according to their pace. They need to keep on improving as now there are many mid field team ready to take points everyday then last year.
10. 

    John H
    29th March 2011, 19:50

    So much better than Liuzzi already.
11. 

    Gridlock
    30th March 2011, 0:28

    He let Sutil past twice on team orders.

    Welcome to F1 kid.
    1. 

       Rits
       30th March 2011, 7:19

       Were you on the FI pit-wall? Comments like these crack me up..
       1. 

          Alianora La Canta
          31st March 2011, 0:34

          The team admitted afterwards that di Resta let Sutil by twice due to “adaptive (read: different) strategies”. That is a form of team orders, albeit a form relatively low in the controversy stakes.
          1. 

             Rits
             3rd April 2011, 19:07

             Agreed, but “a form of team orders” happens all the time in one sense of the word or another in every single team. That’s not similar to ‘A let B past on team orders’, its not as straightforward as that. The team ordering Di Resta to let Sutil past, in the first race, when both have 0 points on the board and it would make no difference to the team who scored the points, is beyond me. I don’t know if there’s anything more to it though.

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