Di Resta handed debut point for Force India

2011 Australian GP team review

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Paul di Resta scored a point on his debut for Force India after the Saubers were disqualified.

He also out-qualified his team mate after Adrian Sutil spun during qualifying.

Adrian SutilPaul di Resta
Qualifying position1614
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)1’31.407 (+4.668)1’26.739
Race position910
Laps57/5857/58
Pit stops22

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

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Adrian Sutil111.5295.82794.66794.60295.57495.22196.57295.80394.96994.16194.06195.4719594.39594.953115.254103.19693.26593.27994.7593.80993.36694.05793.84393.0692.71293.02392.92392.5992.72692.77892.93492.99692.80392.88492.633111.97100.4792.01791.9694.25391.92491.97191.67992.00892.24693.93291.93191.94891.93792.06591.68191.77491.77391.52691.57992.473
Paul di Resta107.56295.80795.74195.55296.12195.22397.58395.75495.04596.00794.69794.99195.188117.09100.24893.50294.02393.43693.36294.54594.17293.1494.33694.06795.28493.08792.92392.78893.16692.66592.8992.87293.19892.75693.054115.102100.55293.69492.42291.94192.16892.17793.83392.12592.38992.48692.80592.63692.95392.59392.97993.05994.40394.594.41996.30596.35

Adrian Sutil

The sector times in Q2 suggested Sutil was not going to make it through to the final ten but he was clearly giving it his all.

But the car got away from him as he activated his rear wing coming onto the pit straight and he spun, avoiding heavy contact with the pit wall thanks only to his lightning-fast reactions.

He lined up 16th and gained four places in the jostling at the start. On lap nine he went past di Resta but ended up behind his team mate again after their pit stops.

With di Resta now on hard tyres Sutil went by again. He ended the race in 11th and was later promoted to ninth.

Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil, Force India, Melbourne, 2011

Paul di Resta

Di Resta had to sit out the first practice session as reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg was given a run.

Nonetheless he qualified 14th, two places ahead of his team mate, and got up to tenth at the start. He tried to take ninth off Kamui Kobayashi on the outside of turn 11, but failed, and Sebastien Buemi passed him.

He ended the race behind his team mate having backed off. He said: “Adrian and I were on different strategies and we had to fuel conserve toward the end. That’s why the gap opened up.”

Nico Hulkenberg

Drove in the first practice session.

2011 Australian Grand Prix


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

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

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

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

      3. 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. 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. 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. Alonso exist to destroy his teammates.

      4. 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. 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. 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. 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. So much better than Liuzzi already.

    11. He let Sutil past twice on team orders.

      Welcome to F1 kid.

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

        1. 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. 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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