The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix with both cars inside the top 12. Tonio Liuzzi put in his best qualifying showing since the Malaysian Grand Prix to put the VJM03 tenth, while Adrian Sutil had a more difficult session and will start 12th.
Both drivers easily made the cut for Q2 as they anticipated traffic and stayed out for just one long run each. Tonio posted the sixth quickest time of the opening segment, while Adrian was seventh fastest. In Q2, Tonio put together the eighth best lap, however Adrian was unlucky to be caught in traffic and then have his tyre preparation for his potential fastest lap ruined with yellow flags. In Q3 Tonio had a relatively smooth run to secure his fourth top 13 start of the season and his joint-best Saturday performance since Sepang.
Adrian Sutil (12th): Today was a difficult session as the car was very fast but I just couldn’t manage to get any lap in Q2. There was a lot of traffic and then the Renault crash in turn one came just at the wrong time and hit me quite badly. I’m quite disappointed as when I did get some clear air my tyres were cold and the lap I did was not enough. We just missed getting to Q3 but it should still be a good race. P12 is right in the middle of the field and I like the circuit, the car feels good and I’m going to try my best to get some points tomorrow. You never know what can happen here.
Tonio Liuzzi (10th): It’s been a good day for us, Q3 was definitely the target and we got it, which is really great after the last two difficult qualifying sessions. I think we could even have got P9 as I was going quicker on the last lap but just locked up into the chicane and lost a little bit. But I love Monaco – it’s such a special event – and it’s good to start so high up. Being in the top 10 puts us in a strong position for tomorrow’s race as overtaking is so difficult to do here. We are positive we can fight for points this race, which is the most important for the team at this point in the season.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: Tonio had a very strong qualifying and really deserved to be in the top 10. He has had some issues with traffic in the past but today he and the team negotiated it well and he was able to get the most out of the car. Adrian was not so lucky with the traffic however P12 in Monaco is still quite a promising position to start the race from. We could see a double points finish from where we are, this has got to be the aim, so we’ll put everything into making it happen.
