Force India Mercedes’s Adrian Sutil doubts repeat performance at Belgian GP
Adrian Sutil thinks that his team, Force India Mercedes, does not have a good chance of repeating last year’s surprising performance at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa. He believes that they had an amazing car last year that was a big advantage over the other teams. He hopes that the team will be able to score many points in the coming races especially Spa and Monza.
Last year, Force India scored their best finish at Spa, when Adrian Sutil qualified 11th on the grid while his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella qualified in pole position 0.087 seconds ahead of Jarno Trulli driving in Toyota. Giancarlo had a very good start and had a good chance of winning the race but the Fin Kimi Räikkönen, driving the Ferrari, stole the victory from him. Kimi started in sixth position but was able to pull off the first win of the 2009 season for Ferrari. Giancarlo, however, was able to take a podium position. He finished second only 0.939 sec behind Kimi.
However, Adrian finished in 11th place and was not able to move up from where he qualified. He could not top his former teammate’s performance but the team looked very strong in Spa in the year 2009. This race was one of the most action-filled races of the season.
Adrian’s teammate, Tonio Liuzzi was slightly more optimistic about the Belgian Grand Prix. He told AUTOSPORT that he thinks they will be competitive this year again. Nevertheless, he added that it will be difficult to top last year’s performance as it was the first year with new rules, different cars and there was the KERS technology. He was impressed with how some teams have improved in drag and top speed. That narrows their chances unlike last year but he still believes that they are in a good shape to aim for the podium.
Sutil believes that they should upgrade their diffuser area as they are falling behind their competitors. They must do something soon in order to perform better in the next race.
Force India this year is looking better than last year though. They have been able to score points in almost all the races except three namely in China, Germany and Hungary. They currently have 47 points and are currently 56 points behind Renault. Their best race this year was in Malaysia where Adrian Sutil scored 10 points after finishing in 5th place.
Adrian Sutil is in 10th place currently with 35 points, in between Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello who are in 9th and 11th places respectively. Comparing this season with the last, Adrian has had a very good season compared to last year, where he was able to score only 5 points in the Italian Grand Prix. The German has been around since 2007. He joined team Spyker in his first season and was able to score only 1 point with them. He joined Force India after that in 2008.
His teammate Tonio Liuzzi is in 14th place with 12 points. Liuzzi has been in the Formula 1 since 2005. Since then, he has been in three teams namely Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India respectively. Similar to his teammate, this season has been his best season yet. He was not able to score more than 3 points a season in the past 4 years. This season has been promising for both of the drivers driving for Force India. The team is working hard for the next race.
Nonetheless, this year, the Belgian Grand Prix is vital with respect to drivers and constructors championship. The driver championship hangs in the balance as five drivers still have a very good chance of winning the championship and McLaren and Red Bull have only 8 points between them. Force India will play a vital role in this race. They will be the ones to watch!
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