Force India

Adrian Sutil had to wait a long duration for his time in the spotlight.

At times he was considered reckless with his clumsy errors and disastrous decisions. At other times he was deemed incredibly unlucky as others influenced his result. Kimi Raikkonen I am indeed referring to you!

Yet today Adrian showed improved maturity and a superb level of competence on the race track.

He impressed throughout on the way to his high fifth placed points finish. His Force India with him at the helm reached the dizzy heights seen once before in Monza last year. 

What appeared most commendable was his staunch defense of his position in the latter stages, as he held off good friend Lewis Hamilton who was on the charge in the aggressive and powerful Mclaren.

This was not necessarily a consequence of the lack of overtaking opportunity as well. Hamilton had passed various competitors throughout. Adrian just seemd to be inpenetrable. He owned his place on the track and was going to give little room for Hamilton to excel against him.

Sutil in similar positions previously portrayed to us a lack of confidence in his inability to hold firm. A stupid mistake or racing incident on more occasions than not proved costly.

As a result of his stunning performance today however, he almost double his pre-race career points tally. Moving from twelve to twenty-two points was his reward.

Such a leap is of course due to the substantial points increases given to top ten finishers. It is arguably retribution though for a driver who has deserved more than the lack of accomplishments that he had built up until todays’ race.

Next up in his targets will surely be a podium. He may have to wait for a collection of ill fated events for the top four teams to achieve this.

Robert Kubica also provides a certain opposition to his ability to perform at a consistently able pace. The Renault at the hands of the resurgent Pole just seems to be afforded a greater optimum at this moment in time.

Until the required chances are gifted to Sutil he must work with his team, with his confidence, and with his own inner stability to make sure this happens.

He is a talented driver, who should be a future race winner. For now he is in a solid position. He is continuing to build himself an awesome reputation, and should further do so as the calender moves into Europe.

2010 has had a great start already – one look at the way the driver’s market has shaped up in the span of the last month and you will agree too. The Mclaren and Mercedes split is now stale – what the world is really waiting to know is whether Michael Schumacher will indeed accept a Mercedes GP role 2010 and onwards. 

Leaving the obvious Schumi talks aside, the Indian media were also keenly following the Force India Formula1 Team’s driver options for 2010. As always, Indian drivers were discussed, debated and neglected! Smartly, I’d say Vijay Mallya chose to stick to his able drivers who delivered last season, thereby bringing in the much needed stability in his team. Formula1 is headed towards stable regulations and having a stable driver pair would surely help. Also, these very drivers stood by the team during their low-grid days and now that they’re in their mid-grid days, it’s only good to retain your team and strengthen them. 

But leaving management philosophy aside, has Vijay Mallya really made the right move by not choosing drivers or a driver of Indian origin? Top teams like Mclaren and Mercedes are encashing on their driver origins – so why not Vijay? Wouldn’t an Indian driver not only raise his team’s popularity in the country, but also promote motorsport locally? Food for thought!

Well, food for thought indeed. Karun Chandhok and Neel Jani were the two Indian drivers who have been knocking on the FIF1 doors since a while now. While Jani’s half Indian origins can be debated, his talent certainly can’t! And the opposite for Chandhok! 

Both Jani and Chandhok had their skills put to the test on the state-of-art Mclaren simulator [they are partners with FIF1] and as expected Jani did clinch the top honours – beating the other rookies on both heavy and light fuel loads. [My interview with him got me these details!] 

The only other Indian driver who is worthy and talented enough for an FIF1 seat is Narain Karthikeyan. Though their pairing has been much discussed earlier, the chances of it happening are almost negligible. 

While Vijay has his reasons [personal!] for ignoring Narain all these years, his reasons for ignoring one of the most successful A1 GP drivers who also happened to top the simulator test are unknown. Was it down to the money that Jani brought to the table? Or was it really to keep his current driver-team combo stable?

Whatever be the case, I strongly believe that Neel Jani should’ve been given a shot in one of the cockpits – after all an Indian in the Force India car might just be the power boost that Formula1 needs to propel the sport forward in India. And what about Karun? A few more wins in GP2 and some more canvassing might surely help – and then, there’s always a next time! 

So think again, is Vijay participating in Formula1 to grow the sport in India or to compete and win against the best in the world? And then, you will agree that Sutil and Luizzi are the best step forward in 2010 – May the Force be with you!

Force India today announced an upgrade to its CFD programming today “that will provide the company’s drivers with the best chance of a podium finish.”

Before get too excited like I did, wondering just how much merchandise I should buy online, notice in the announcement that about half the Formula 1 teams are using this new-to-Force India technology, which seems to be a super-quick storage system that keeps pace with the wind-tunnel simulations.

Still, it’s good to see a “back marker” team stepping up with improved technology. [I hope they aren't spending their lawsuit money prematurely.]

Rather than muck-up the technical details, here is some of the language from the press release:

Panasas, Inc., the leading provider of high-performance storage solutions for the world’s most performance-intensive applications, announced today that Force India Formula One Team has increased the performance and capacity of its engineering simulation solution through the deployment of Panasas ActiveStor storage. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are a critical part of Force India’s car design process to continually improve the team’s on-track, aerodynamic performance.

In conjunction with physical wind-tunnel testing, Force India relies on virtual prototypes and CFD methods to improve racing car aerodynamics. Maximizing the impact of its CFD process leads to engineering advancements that provide the company’s drivers with the best chance of a podium finish. The challenge Force India faced from an IT perspective was providing a data storage solution that could keep pace in this rigorous environment.

Where’s Todd’s abacus when I need it?

One item I do find funny, which I quoted in the lead to this post: “the best chance of a podium finish.” Force India, to their credit, aren’t getting too big for their britches. They aren’t expecting to develop the “best chance of a victory,” just finding one of those coveted winner’s steps.

Hey, it’s more substantial than anything we’ve seen from USF1GPEXYZ, right?

Are there any experts out there among our readers who can put this more into context? Is it a big deal—or even just “a deal?" I figure my notice that half the teams already are using it suggests it is not necessarily something that will fly Force India to the front, but if they were improving before having this extra “oomph,” it can’t hurt. Let’s hope it helps them figure out downforce on the car.

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Not every season ends with the retirement of a trusted and valued friend. But when the time has passed and the memories are long—it becomes such a year. With the retirement of F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella (Fisi), I asked the two females of F1B to take a “pro” and “con” position.

The idea was to give you, the reader, a great look at both sides of the coin. A review of the career that was overwhelming to some and underwhelming to others.

What better way to do that than offer the F1B women the opportunity to slug it out in fine fashion. Laura will take the “pro” position with her panache, poetry, and British charm while Grace will take the “con” position with her…snark. Grace quickly opted for the “con” position. It seems reasonable as she’s not the biggest Fisi fan.

Be careful, no matter who you agree with—they are both terrific and we couldn’t be more elated to offer the first joint op-ed featuring the two most beautiful parts of F1B.

Laura Gets the Discussion Started

So that’s it, the 2009 season is over! And the sad thing is, for many of the drivers, they have no idea who they’ll be driving for next season, if indeed whether they’ll be in F1 at all.

In particular, Fisichella is one of those. After switching from a drive with Force India to Ferrari for the last five races of the 2009 season, it looks unlikely that he will drive in F1 again next year as he will be Ferrari’s reserve driver.

So, seeing as he’s been in the sport for quite some time, Todd thought it would be a great idea to team Grace and I up to talk about Fisi, and how much he’s achieved—or not—and how much he’ll be missed—or perhaps not in Grace’s case. So I’ll do what I usually do, and Grace will chip in with her usual snark…

When Fisi was confirmed as Massa’s stand in at Ferrari from Monza onwards, for him it was a dream come true, and for the fans it was a case of, “Yay, Badoer out. At least Fisi will be able to do a better job.”

But it didn’t exactly happen like that. After qualifying on pole at Spa and matching the pace of Kimi, in what was later to become his last race with Force India, it seemed fitting he should get the chance to drive for the Prancing Horse. But since his move, he hasn’t been able to deliver, and he has regularly propped up the back of the grid, and indeed the back of the pack during the race.

While driving for Ferrari has been a dream for Fisi, it hasn’t been quite what the fans were expecting. His last race for Force India was a sign of just how good Fisi can potentially be, and with a good performance under his belt, many thought he would jump into the Ferrari and be straight into Q3 each race, and scoring as many points as possible. It hasn’t happened.

Fisi has said he has no regrets in joining Ferrari, which of course came right at the time when he was starting to achieve more with Force India. In many ways you have to hand it to him. To sacrifice the success he was beginning to have with an up and coming team, when Badoer was proving how difficult it was to be successful in a Ferrari you’ve never driven before, is impressive. There is also the fact that both Force India drivers—Sutil and Fisi’s replacement Liuzzi—were considerably better than Fisi in Monza, in both qualifying and the race. Even Liuzzi’s retirement simply being down to a reliability issue rather than driver error. Although Fisi finished, Liuzzi had been running ahead of him before his retirement.

Of course Fisi has had some great moments in F1, and this season he’ll be remembered for that impressive pole at Spa and his eventual second place after holding on to Kimi throughout the race.

All in all, during his F1 career he has had three wins, his first in Brazil in 2003 for Jordan. In 2005, he scored his first pole in the season opener in Melbourne, and went on to win the race for Renault, however, despite five more podiums, it was his teammate, Alonso, who went on to be more successful. In 2006 he claimed his third win and finished fourth in the championship standings.

In 2007, Renault were less successful, and it was rookie Kovalainen who out-shone Fisi, and in 2008 he moved to Force India. He didn’t achieve great successes with the team, until his last race with them, and after that, he was living the dream, driving for Ferrari. But after many years in F1, where he has become a bit of a veteran, it is a shame that if this is it for Fisi, that he couldn’t have gone out on more of a high—something he perhaps may have got at Force India—and then again if he had remained there, he may still have a seat in F1. But these are all "what ifs."

Maybe it was never meant to be for him, unlike it has been for Hamilton in his early career, and for Button who after years of striving to be the best has finally taken the title.

Even though he won’t be leaving F1 with a championship under his belt, he will leave as a recognized driver who will be remembered, even if it is simply for achieving his dream.

And Now a Word From the Redoubtable Grace

Congratulation race fans—the middling career of one Giancarlo Fisichella from Rome, Italy—is finally over. Sure, he’ll continue as a reserve driver for Ferrari, but seriously who are we kidding? How many veteran test drivers do you know that have returned to F1 and had a successful career?

That’s what I thought. Not that I blame the guy because I think living your life out in the plush arms of Ferrari is definitely the way to go. Nice vacations in the mountains, the pretty girls—it seems pretty win/win to me. Besides, why stick to a team that has the potential for mid-field dominance at best, when you could go out with the best—but maybe that’s just me.

So as I look back over Fisi’s career two phrases stick out to me: potential and bad luck. Now it’s a hard line to draw between actual skill and perception, especially in F1 where a driver’s talent is masked by the car they are driving, however, this can’t be very comforting to the man behind the giant white sunglasses.

Sure, he wasn’t the most successful driver out there, but he certainly wasn’t a strong middle either. He didn’t even have the consistency or the car set up knowledge that a DC brought to the field. Frankly, at the end of the day, Fisi was a nice guy, who made a good pizza and should go back to his quiet life in Rome. A great Formula 1 driver was never in the cards for him and in many ways I’m surprised he’s lasted this long on good looks and experience.

Sure Fisi had some great moments, like Japan 2005. Oh wait, that was one of my favorite Fisi moments, probably not one of his. And sure, it wasn’t a fair comparison to put him up against Alonso at Renault, but he couldn’t even perform a constant P10, let alone win races. Without the brilliance of a Kimi Raikkonen, consistency is all a driver has in F1. If you can’t consistently bring it home for the team, then you’ll be consistently out of a drive. Come on, Khaki Hovalovian did better at Renault than Fisi did and we all know how I feel about the human paper shredder.

Really the highlight of his career was during his one year stint at Sauber in 2004, where he consistently scored higher than his team mate: That’s right my other favorite driver. No, not Webber but Felipe Massa. Oh how interesting that worked out for both of them.

So as dusk draws dark on Fisi’s career, I stand by his decision, big sunglasses and all, and wish him a fond farewell. Sure, he left FIF1 as it was starting to go up, but he must know what I’ve been suspecting—Spa and Monza were flukes. Otherwise, he would have either stayed at Force India in 2009, or returned to Force India for 2010. The fact that he’s staying with Ferrari as a test driver just further cements the obvious in my mind.

So enjoy the good life Giancarlo, and don’t get too close to that Sutil kid. I hear he’s a bit of a crasher.

Who knew the biggest support industry in England would be photocopying services?

First the recap: Force India called foul on Team Lotus because their car looks like theirs and the tires they are using in testing have Force India team members' handwriting on them. Mike Gascoyne then stepped in and said look we aren’t doing anything wrong and if you have a problem talk to Fondtech because they’re the ones with the common link—not us.

Latest update: Aerolab has stated that it did not pass any information from Force India to its parent company Fondtech and thus any aero similarities between Lotus and Force India didn’t come from them.

And in a further twist, Aerolab is said to take legal action against FIF1 for “serious and persistent breaches of contract.”

Aerolab’s managing director Jean-Claude Migeot.

It is quite unusual for us to comment on negative matters but we have been given no other choice but to make public the facts after press reports in recent days suggested that Aerolab has passed on information to parent company Fondtech which enjoys a close technical relationship with Lotus F1 Racing. These rumors are designed only to tarnish the company’s reputation and professionalism and to divert attention away from the facts. The truth is that Aerolab is suing Force India for not fulfilling its obligations.

And I thought the offseason would give me a chance to catch up on non-F1 related things.

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Calling itself the best of the new teams, the new Lotus F1 outfit is intent on signing two experienced drivers—and to do so by the end of the month—in the hope of being among the “bottom of the established teams” in 2010.

At least, so says Lotus chief Mike Gasgoyne, and Autosport .

Jarno Trulli is the team’s top choice—and given Toyota’s pull-out, it seems a pretty strong inevitability that Trulli will end up there—but it also has contact former champ Jacques Villeneuve, and Christian Klien. Both of those drivers were seen with Lotus people at Abu Dhabi.

Here’s more:

“We are looking for two drivers with experience,” [Gasgoyne] told AUTOSPORT. “We are not looking for pay drivers or new drivers. We think that is very important for the team.

“What is becoming clear to every one of the new teams is that we have gone from last to first of the new teams very rapidly. We are being seen as a serious entity. We have got quite a lot of interest, but we want two experienced drivers there.”

When asked about Trulli being top of his list, Gascoyne said: “He is one of the guys we would like to have. Jarno has, over one lap, always been sensational. That is even more important in a new team because you need to know where you are on a Saturday. Jarno can always give you that.”

[snip]

“We hope by the end of November,” he said. “We don’t want to be hanging around, we want to be proactive in what we are doing, rather than reactive. That is something we want to tie up pretty soon.”

Gascoyne says that the design of the 2010 car is on schedule, with a first shakedown scheduled for February.

When asked if he felt his early ambition to be best of the new teams was still on track, he said: “I think that is not our target any more.

“That is a given, and now we are aiming at the bottom of the established teams. We want to be as close as possible to them,” he added.

Hey, if they are aiming for the bottom of the established teams, maybe “stealing” [allegedly!!] Force India’s designs makes more sense.

The team could do worse than a Trulli/Klien pairing, though, couldn’t they? I had heard Anthony Davidson’s name attached to Lotus, so I do have to admit I’m a bit disappointed he appears to be off their radar.

Is there a better line-up for Lotus? And is Gasgoyne being a little too big for his britches?

Do you suppose Giancarlo Fisichella is on the phone to Vijay Mallya yet?

The new-to-me Arabianbusiness.com says it has the exclusive story :

Etihad and Aldar, the title sponsors of the team, switched its sponsorship to the Ferrari team for the 2008 season citing conflict with Kingfisher, the airline owned by Force India shareholder Vijay Mallya.

The original three year deal was signed between the team and Etihad on April 16, 2007 and agreed at $5 million for 2007, $6 million for 2008 and $9 million for 2009.

[snip]

At the time, the team was called Spyker and there was no conflict. That occurred when Vijay Mallya bought a shareholding in the team the following year. Mallya was prepared to continue the agreement and not promote his airline on the cars.

However on January 27 2008, the airline terminated the deal and signed with Ferrari in a deal believed to be worth $10 million a year.

Judge Gray awarded $2.483 million for the wrongful termination of the agreement after only one year in. He awarded $500,000 for termination of the bonus for points agreement and $1.3 million for termination of the championship performance bonus agreement.

Judge Gray said the damages award would have been much higher if the team had no mitigated its loss and found replacement sponsors.

[snip]

An Etihad spokesperson said: “Both Etihad and Aldar Properties were surprised at the judgement and strongly disagree with its conclusions. We have been advised that there are strong grounds for appealing the decision and will be pressing on with an immediate appeal.”

If the decision stands, it has to be a decent boost for the team; as a comparison, during the American broadcast of the Abu Dhabi race the announcers said the difference between finishing third and fourth in the constructors championship was $5 million.

The new Lotus team, headed by been-around-the-block Mike Gasgoyne, finds itself under the microscope this week because the initial designs of its car resemble that other another team.

And that’s a big no-no, although one that Lotus only will be officially bound by once it signs the Concorde Agreement.

But I think we all will agree that’s not the big news here. The big news: the team that Lotus is accused of parroting.

Red Bull? No.

Brawn GP? After all, it just won both championships. Not it.

McLaren? Try again.

OK...Ferrari? I mean, the car was kind of hopeless there at the end, but surely it has a solid base to begin with, right? No.

The Lotus wind-tunnel design looks, apparently, an awful lot like Force India’s car.

I know, I know, this might be a bigger sign of Lotus’ unlikelihood of making the grid than USF1’s unpainted HQ.

As a bit of a Force India fan, even I wouldn’t look to those cars for my model. Of course, Gasgoyne is an old Force India employee, so you can see where the issue starts.

Here’s a bit more from Autosport :

Force India is keeping a close eye on the progress of the Lotus Formula 1 team’s 2010 design, with team sources saying it is concerned about the similarities between its old car and the new Lotus.

Lotus recently published photographs of the wind-tunnel model that will form the basis of its new car. At the time, there was discussion about how similar it looked to the Force India – especially because Force India’s former Aerolab wind tunnel and technical chief Mike Gascoyne are now working together on the Lotus project.

Sources suggest that there were details on the wind tunnel model that have become a cause for alarm for Force India’s senior management. These relate to the design of the front wing assembly, which Force India believes is virtually identical to that which it started last season.

Furthermore, the team is concerned by the fact that the Lotus was fitted with wind-tunnel tyres that featured hand-writing from Force India staff – meaning they could only have come from the Silverstone-based team.

[snip]

“Obviously our wind-tunnel model was designed for us by Fondtech in Italy,” Gascoyne told AUTOSPORT.

“It is based around a 2010 chassis, because there is a big fuel volume in it, it has a Cosworth engine, an Xtrac gearbox, our suspension, and other stuff designed by us. The Fondmetal guys put some generic bodywork on [for the tests].

“Some of the staff had been working on different projects. And whereas you cannot copy anything or take anyone else’s IP, you can use your expertise – and you will base that on what you know and what directions you know have been happening. That is what has happened.”

Gasgyone’s argument is that Lotus is working with designers who know how the cars are put together, and so they put together a car that looks like the cars on the grid.

Sounds a bit fishy, though, given the connections to Force India. Plus, Gasgoyne drops this whopper: “Gascoyne added that because Lotus sub-contracts its design work to Fondtech, then any complaints Force India has should be directed to it – not Lotus.”

That sounds like he knows they’ve done something wrong to me—and not just picking the wrong car to mirror.

Oh, and there’s that whole “signed tires” issue. Sounds like the case is coming together pretty solidly.

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You have to hand it to the Formula 1 bosses. While they couldn’t tell the Internet from a hole in the ground, essentially refuse to engage the fans in any meaningful way, and will flip a classic track such as Silverstone for a flat, boring track in the middle of a money-field, they at least know how to seat drivers next to each other during pre-race interviews.

Today, we had Adrian Sutil and Jarno Trulli next to each other. (Oh, and in the front row, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.)

It took questions from the audience to get to the topic we all wanted Sutil and Trulli to discuss: Brazil. And, oh, did they discuss it. Note that at one point Fernando Alonso turns to Kimi Raikkonen and makes a comment:

Q: (Ian Parkes—The Press Association) Question to Jarno and Adrian: I’m just wondering if you two guys have settled your differences after your exchange of words following your first lap accident in Brazil?

JT: I think we’re going to discuss it probably tomorrow in the drivers’ briefing and in the GPDA briefing. Obviously it was very disappointing to end the race like that, especially on the first lap. Obviously I think I had every reason to be extremely furious. I’ve got all the evidence to show that I was there, I was next to him, so I think tomorrow we are going to discuss it.

AS: I think there’s nothing to discuss. It was a quite obvious incident. In the end it was very disappointing for myself, even more, I think, because I was the one who was just driving and he lost control of his car and crashed in my back, so it was not my problem, it was his problem. I don’t know why he’s freaking out like that, to be honest.

JT: (Laughing) If you want, I can show you some pictures (like the one above). I don’t know if you’re blind but they clearly show you that my front wing is next to your front wing, so…

AS: Yeah, but you’re trying to overtake me on the outside on the kerbing. There was not a problem…

JT: So you mean… you didn’t move there…

AS: No, you were just not going off the power. The same happened in Barcelona where you lost control again and crashed again into a Force India car. You just have to sometimes also…

JT: I just lost…

AS: …expect the limits of the car. If there’s no way to go, you have to back off, that’s how racing is, and I don’t know how long you want to learn it.

JT: In Barcelona I spun and he hit me because he tapped the kerb, he completely cut the circuit and he didn’t slow down, so basically… Anyway, I think it’s better…

FA: (to KR) Shall we go?

AS: No, no. Watch the race in Barcelona. I didn’t hit you, you hit me. I don’t know what’s the problem, but maybe your eyes are a problem.

JT: I don’t have any feeling about him.

AS: I don’t understand, really, sorry.

Q: (Alan Baldwin—Reuters) I was actually going to ask a similar question, but maybe the two of you can agree on what you said after the incident in Brazil, because obviously Jarno was seen to be gesticulating and saying quite a few things. Could you just tell us what was said at the time?

JT: I was furious because I said ‘didn’t you see me?’ I mean, I was next to him and he kept pushing me going outside until I was obviously on the kerbs. I couldn’t believe…

AS: …the kerbs, not a problem to be on the kerb, I think. Where’s the problem?

JT: Ok, no problem, it’s OK. As long as we know the rules.

AS: I know the rules.

JT: Fantastic.

Fantastic indeed! We need to watch these two all weekend, and especially during the start of the race. (Plus, I think if Sutil has another crash, there could be a little explaining for him to do.)

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A strange event occurred today at the Italian Grand Prix. Adrian Sutil managed a race long battle with flying Fin Kimi Raikkonen, actually managing to finish the Grand Prix still pointing all four wheels in the right direction!

The young German driver widely regarded in his short career as a promising yet average competitor showed the determination behind the wheel of a formula 1 car that is required to sustain a longer career.

Such a competitive edge has rarely been seen in the driver due mostly to his incapability to compete at the highest level. This obviously has been due in part mainly to his drives in back-end cars. Yet we know that the racer is there.

It was somewhat disheartening in Spa to see his now ex team mate score Force India’s first points and podium finish. Especially when you consider that if it had not been for Kimi Raikkonen’s previously destructive Ferrari, Adrian would have achieved that accolade months before his more experienced partner. All can remember the heartbreak portrayed on the young German when Kimi’s Ferrari pummelled into the back of a points position holding Sutil in the Monaco Grand Prix of last season.

This being at a time when such a result for a minnow team was seemingly light years away.

The aftermath of Giancarlo Fisichella’s move to Ferrari however has now left Adrian to take the vastly improved Force India team to new and unexpected heights. He is now the number one driver. He has the opportunity to rewrite the history books.

His inexperience in Formula 1 has shown at times with miniscule mistakes inventing larger repercussions, yet here is a driver who is on the charge. Here is a driver who many expect to only increase in pace and control in future races and seasons.

His slightly improved confidence was evident to see in his post race interview where he discussed the merits of his race performance and his ability to finish a battle with Kimi unscathed. Also his cheeky reply when congratulated by an unknown beauty in his post race analysis highlighted his renewed excitement that had been etched into him. When asked if he knew the woman he simply responded ‘not yet.’

So now, as the season heads to Singapore and the final four races of the season Adrian will look to further build upon his impressive Monza performance.

Maybe he will go one step further than Fisichella and take the top step of the podium. He certainly has the speed to achieve such a result when reflecting on today’s marvellous attack on Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi had no time to relax or take his foot off the throttle. If not for his Kers system boosting his start and exits from corners the Force India would have walked all over him.

Adrian Sutil is a future talent in waiting. It just remains to be seen how much of an elevation his team will give him with his car for the remainder of this season and follow up seasons if he was to remain at Force India.

Otherwise we can hopefully see Adrian climbing the ladder of opportunity into bigger and better drives.