GermanGP Race - Force India driver quotes

Paul di Resta (11th)
“It’s not been the easiest of weekends for us, but in the final part of the race it looked like we were on course to score some points. In the end we just ran out of tyres during the last couple of laps, but it was always going to be risky with our two-stop strategy, especially as we had to pit under the safety car. There were times in the race when the car was working well, but I really struggled with the first set of mediums and was not happy with the balance. Things improved quite a bit for the final stint, but by then we were out of position. It’s a bit gutting to miss out on points so we need to unleash our potential and get back to our usual form in Hungary.”
Adrian Sutil (13th)
“It turned out to be quite a disappointing race and for whatever reason we’ve just not had the pace this weekend. I struggled a lot with the tyres and had to convert from a two-stop race to a three-stop race, which was not our plan. I also lost some time at my final pit stop and after that the points were just too far away.”
Robert Fernley, Force India deputy team principal
“It’s disappointing to end our run of points finishes, but Paul came very close to picking up the final point today. Ultimately his two-stop strategy wasn’t quite enough to fend off our competitors in the final few laps, but we came close to pulling it off. Adrian’s race was also decided by tyre wear because we had to switch him to a three-stop strategy mid-way through the race. Overall we were missing some performance and didn’t have the pace to make the strategy work. Both Paul and Adrian were unable to pass the Williams of Maldonado after the safety car, which compromised the strategy. With three weeks until the next race and a young driver test before that, we will work hard to ensure we can recapture the form we’ve shown earlier in the season.”

Source: Formula1.com

German GP Qualifying - Force India driver quotes

Paul di Resta (12th, Q2 - 1m 30.697s)
“It’s been quite a difficult couple of days trying to get the car in the right operating window and I’ve never felt totally comfortable. All the changes we’ve made have been a compromise and I’ve really struggled with the balance. Ahead of qualifying we completely changed the set-up to try to improve things and it certainly helped. For tomorrow we just have to hope that we can repeat the race pace we’ve shown earlier in the season because that has been one of our strengths.”

Adrian Sutil (15th, Q2 - 1m 31.010s)
“P15 for my home race is a bit disappointing. I had a technical issue with my DRS during Q2 and it was not working, which cost me about half a second per lap. That’s why P15 was all that was possible today. Otherwise I think I would have been very close to making Q3. We can fix the issue for tomorrow so we will be ready for the race. Apart from that our absolute pace has not been at our usual level and we’ve struggled to deliver the performance we showed at Silverstone. Tomorrow is a new day; we will push on and I believe points are still possible. ”

Robert Fernley, Force India deputy team principal
“It’s difficult to determine if the change in tyre construction has hampered the team’s performance, but for whatever reason we’ve not found the sweet spot this weekend and that is reflected in our qualifying performance this afternoon. The changes made to Paul’s car ahead of qualifying were a step in the right direction and P12 was a good effort all things considered. Adrian has been happier with the balance, but was heavily compromised by a DRS issue, which made it impossible to reach Q3 today. It means we are further back on the grid than we’d like to be, but we remain optimistic that we can fight for points with both cars tomorrow.”

Source: Formula1.com

Gernam GP - Friday practice - Force India driver quotes

Paul di Resta, P1 - 1:33.493, 11th; P2 - 1:31.797, 10th
“Quite a tricky session with lots to think about overnight. There’s room to improve the set-up because I’m not feeling as comfortable as I usually do. Tyre-wise we’ve done a lot of running across the two compounds to give us enough data to understand the impact of the new rear tyres. The two compounds are different extremes so we need to make sure we can get both in the right operating window.”
Adrian Sutil, P1 - 1:32.822, 4th; P2 - 1:31.824, 11th
“It was quite a good day and the car looks competitive with a similar performance level compared to the last few races. We are back on the soft tyres here, which offer good grip but have very high degradation. They are nice to drive and will be a very good qualifying tyre, but long runs were quite difficult. The medium tyre performs well and is very consistent, so there is a good combination for the race.”
Jakob Andreasen, Force India chief engineer
“A very busy day for both cars, but it was a relief to finally have a completely dry Friday. We evaluated some aero items this morning and will look over the results to make sure we deploy our best parts tomorrow. The afternoon saw our usual tyre programme and it immediately became clear there was a big delta between the soft and medium tyres, which will make the strategy interesting for Sunday. The car performance is about where we expected it to be, but we do need to find some more pace ahead of qualifying. We have a few more items to deploy tomorrow, which should help optimise the car further. Overall I believe we are in good shape and I’m optimistic that we can be up there in the top ten with both cars tomorrow afternoon.”

Source : Formula1.com

Germany preview quotes - Force India

2011 Qualifying - 8th, 2011 Race - 6th 
“Racing in your home country is always special, even more so at a historical circuit like the Nurburgring. I spent a lot of time racing there during my early years, but only three times in Formula One. It's a track that requires a lot of different skills from the driver, with a technical first sector, a flowing middle part and a fast end to the lap. The layout can catch you out sometimes, especially on some kerbs - such as the final chicane.”

Paul di Resta, Force India
2011 Qualifying - 12th, 2011 Race - 13th
“It’s a very different track and not so demanding on the tyres compared to Silverstone. We should be competitive and if we can maximise all three days we will be in good shape. I’ve only raced at the Nurburgring once in Formula One a couple of years ago and I got hit going into the first corner so it would be good to put things right this weekend. I know the place well from my DTM days, although we always used to race on the shorter version. The weather is always a factor there because of the location and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some rain at some point. The track is a mix of everything, but it’s important to have good mechanical grip to perform well in the slower sections at the start and end of the lap.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
“We are now 22 points ahead of McLaren: they are on 37, and we have 59. It’s all very well to say we are widening the gap, but McLaren is such a formidable team, with such a fantastic track record, they can wipe out that entire gap by winning just one race. I would not take it for granted that we will hang on to fifth, but we will make every attempt. We expect to carry our form into this weekend. In the last few races we’ve seen our speed and we’ve managed to get Paul in the points on three occasions from the back of the grid. It’s a home race for Adrian, a track he enjoys, and we will go there determined to continue our run of finishes with two cars in the points.”

Source : Formula1.com

Force India hope to keep McLaren behind them

Force India are beginning to believe they could finish the Formula One season ahead of McLaren after adding more points to their tally at Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

The Silverstone-based team, who operate on a far smaller budget than the sport’s second most successful team in terms of race wins, now have 59 points to McLaren’s 37 after eight of the season’s 19 races.

Force India had both their cars in the points at a controversial Silverstone race punctuated by tyre failures, with German driver Adrian Sutil seventh and Britain’s Paul Di Resta ninth, while McLaren drew a blank for the second race in a row.

“We have a gap of 22 points…all they need is one race win and that will wipe out the entire deficit,” Mallya told reporters.
 
“So I am going to be cautiously optimistic while saying that I want to remain ahead of McLaren and hang on to fifth place in the constructors’ championship.
“If we keep scoring points and they don’t come up with something dramatic like a race win, we should be able to keep our nose ahead of them,” added the Indian liquor baron.

McLaren have not finished higher than fifth so far this season and are struggling to get their car up to speed after ending last year with Jenson Button winning in Brazil.

With major rule changes and a new V6 engine coming next year, McLaren have already started switching resources to making sure the 2014 car is competitive from the outset.

“We are at a point where we’ve got to ensure that we are in a competitive situation next year so we are also now earlier than usual putting a lot more resource and effort on to next year’s programme,” McLaren principal Martin Whitmarsh said at the weekend.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, backed the approach.
“We will still be developing the car but I think it’s great that we’ve got more people working on next year’s car,” he told reporters.

“Our main aim is to win the world championship and that is something we cannot do this year…so I think it’s a good idea that we are concentrating a little but more on next year.”

Mallya said that change of focus could play to Force India’s advantage.
“If McLaren are not focusing on developing this car further, and we are doing what we are doing and continue to do, then there is no reason why we should not keep our nose ahead.

“If they want to focus on the 2014 car then that gives everybody a chance.”

Source: Firstpost.com (Reuters)   

Di Resta focused on his own reputation

Paul di Resta says all he can do to get himself into contention for one of the top-team Formula 1 drives potentially available in 2014 is to keep impressing at Force India.
 
Mark Webber's decision to leave F1 for Porsche's sportscar programme means champion team Red Bull has a seat open next year.

With Kimi Raikkonen among the Red Bull contenders and Romain Grosjean's future uncertain, Lotus could have two vacancies for 2014, while Felipe Massa's current Ferrari deal is up at the end of this season.

So far di Resta has not been strongly mentioned among the candidates for any of the frontrunning seats.

"There's nothing I can do," he said when asked if this frustrated him.

"It is what it is. I'm only trying to do what I can do.

"I've built my reputation in Formula 1. I want to be in a winning seat, but it's [down to] people's board's decisions.

"I've still got a lot of races with Force India this year, and when it's exciting like it was at Silverstone, I'll keep concentrating on that and let other people do the work in the background.

"Where I am next year I don't know, but there are many points up for grabs. That is the important bit, keeping your reputation."

Di Resta qualified fifth for the British Grand Prix last weekend but was put to the back for a weight infringement. He recovered from there to ninth.
Earlier this season he came close to his maiden F1 podium at the Bahrain GP. 

The Scot is currently eighth in the world championship.

Source: Autosport.com

British GP- Force India driver quotes

Adrian Sutil (7th)
“The start of the race was looking very good because we were always planning a two-stop strategy and I was up into fourth on lap one. It was a challenge to look after the tyres and keep them going, but the main problem for me was the second safety car because the cars around me chose to pit. I stayed out and was third at the restart, but the cars behind with fresh rubber had a big advantage and were able to overtake me quite easily in the final few laps. It’s disappointing to slip back so close to the finish, but seventh place gives us some good points so we can be happy with the result.”
Paul di Resta (9th)
“That wasn’t the cleanest of races for me, but given everything that’s happened this weekend I think we can feel satisfied with two points today. It was a bit of a scruffy race because I lost my front wing trying to get ahead of Nico [Hulkenberg], so we chose to change it when the safety car came out, which probably cost me a couple of positions. Towards the end of the race I had fresh tyres, and was closing in on Ricciardo, but I ran out of laps and he was just out of reach. So a weekend of highs and lows, but it’s definitely good to continue our points run and have another double points finish for the team.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
“Before the race we set the target of getting two cars home in the points, so I’m pleased that we managed to achieve this objective. It means we’ve scored points at the last six events. Adrian’s race was very strong and for a while it looked like we might be challenging for a podium. However, the two safety car periods kept the pack close together and limited the benefits of his two-stop strategy. Paul’s race was very busy, but once again he battled his way through to the points and showed the speed of the car. With eight points scored today we continue to strengthen our hold on fifth place in the championship and head to Germany determined to keep the momentum going.”

Source: Formula1.com