Force India hold back on aerodynamic upgrade

2011 Spanish GP team review

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Adrian Sutil, Force India, Barcelona, 2011

Force India brought a substantial aerodynamic upgrade to the Spanish Grand Prix but took it off the car after Friday.

Deputy team principal Robert Fearnley said: “We reverted back to our older spec aero platform because we haven’t really found the crossover we hoped to achieve with the new introductions. That’s why we felt it was safer to stick with a known quantity.

“We will take another look at our new concept and try to develop it through for Monaco, but I expect it to be a phased introduction over the next two or three races.”

Adrian Sutil Paul di Resta
Qualifying position 17 16
Qualifying time comparison (Q2) 1’26.571 (+0.445) 1’26.126
Race position 13 12
Laps 65/66 65/66
Pit stops 3 3

Force India drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
Adrian Sutil 106.107 95.586 95.026 94.61 94.435 94.268 94.115 94.028 93.824 94.298 95.636 95.169 96.397 109.845 91.573 91.599 91.212 91.064 90.856 90.874 90.598 91.013 91.312 91.674 92.49 92.805 91.943 93.101 93.85 96.485 108.603 90.669 90.347 90.599 90.541 90.061 89.908 91.064 90.074 90.149 92.513 90.146 90.319 90.61 90.931 92.981 91.226 94.405 110.997 90.024 90.252 88.791 89.588 89.615 88.844 89.125 89.092 89.001 89.22 88.86 89.114
Paul di Resta 102.808 93.684 93.054 92.731 92.98 92.437 92.699 92.592 92.162 93.032 94.21 92.115 92.789 93.181 96.301 108.257 90.589 91.016 91.566 92.495 91.895 92.123 90.106 91.711 91.608 91.334 91.839 92.219 91.941 92.997 92.77 97.279 107.136 89.596 90.203 92.186 90.083 90.028 90.14 92.269 90.238 89.469 89.734 90.31 89.958 90.227 90.44 90.862 92.65 91.558 94.555 110.047 90.623 89.552 90.55 90.434 90.643 90.469 91.399 90.398 90.194

Adrian Sutil

The team did a side-by-side test of the new parts with the old in first practice, with Sutil running the new parts and Nico Hulkenberg using the original specification.

Sutil was out-qualified by di Resta for the fourth time out of five. Both drivers used hard tyres in Q2 to save fresh soft tyres for the race.

Sutil ran an unusual hard-soft-soft-soft strategy. Having lost a place at the start he came on strong at the end of the race, passing Sebastien Buemi to finish 13th behind his team mate.

Adrian Sutil 2011 form guide

Paul di Resta

Sat out first practice and sampled the new parts in the second session. From 16th on the grid he gained two places at the start.

Lost time behind Jaime Alguersuari in his first two stints but his strategy ultimately lifted him ahead of the Toro Rossos. Ended the race almost 20 seconds outside of the points.

Nico Hulkenberg

Drove di Resta’s car in first practice.

Force India’s new aero

Adrian Sutil in the upgraded car on Friday
Nico Hulkenberg in the original-spec car on Friday

Paul di Resta 2011 form guide

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

    Browse all 2011 Spanish Grand Prix articles

    Image © Force India F1 Team

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    Keith Collantine
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    16 comments on “Force India hold back on aerodynamic upgrade”

    1. their new front end looks almost exactly like the ferrari

      1. Yep. A complete Ferrari front wing knock off.

        1. In combination with a McLaren nose, nice bit of uniting those two!

      2. I hadn’t noticed it, it surely looks more normal.

    2. Quite a lot of changes to that car, I’m not surprised it was hard to get it working.

      I was skeptical about Di Resta but it’s starting to look like Sutil doesn’t have an answer. I can’t see Nico being stuck as the third driver for long if Sutil can’t up his game.

      1. dyslexicbunny
        23rd May 2011, 15:00

        And it’s surprising since he was so strong the last couple of years. I thought he was pushing the FI and getting a bit more out of the car. Maybe it’s just the new tires and he’s having trouble coping?

      2. I always thought that Sutil wasnt that bad, he probably still isnt. But Di Resta came into F1 with something of a name already (having beaten Vettel in F3 & winning DTM) and is certainly doing everything he can to enhance his rep. Sutil’s basically in the same position as Webber at Redbull, not a bad driver but has in a teammate a very good driver.

    3. That upgraded front wing looks like the Renault R29’s with an extra element…oh dear!

      1. Copy the best …

    4. these high noses..they look so ugly..

      all the best to force india ..seems like looosing James Key is having a hard impact on them and Saubers are benefitting no end..

      1. Can’t wait for 2013 when the high noses would be gone :)

    5. the front wing is not as good as their older wing… it’s shocking that their new wing looks so basic compared to that of the competitors… i was circumspect about their car when launched, the loss of James Key is truly hurting the team. the only thing the team got right was promoting di Resta for the race seat… who is giving hard time to Sutil which will help team to get most out of the car.

      1. But maybe it is a lot less draggy. Okay, that might be an issue since they don’t seem to be overflowing with downforce even with the old one, but it might just create a lot better airflow to the floor in combination with that nose.

    6. most of f1 anyway runs on copying a really good aero system. mclaren did it of rbr at the beginin of this season, ferrari did the high rising nose rbr has, everyone tried to copy the Fduct last year, then the double diffuser system in 09. as long as they get it working. hope they do.

    7. That front wing couldn’t look much different from the old-spec one if it tried. Does seem a little ambitious to look at.

      A good result for Di Resta. Sutil is doing nothing for me. Or for China’s bar scene it seems.

    8. martin bell
      24th May 2011, 14:31

      I just wanted to post somewhere how impressed I am with Paul di Resta. The form guide here tells us everything we need to know about how he’s performing against his team mate, but his post race interviews are brilliant. He seems to have an extraordinary ability to process information during the race, but is really insightful afterwards. He always presents a detailed account of his afternoon, but also an awareness of what else was going on around him. This spare brain capacity is one of the skills that separates the great from the good in F1 and I look forward to seeing his career develop. Got that off my chest then.

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