2008 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying and Final Free Practice
Report
Adrian Sutil (car 20, VJM01/02):
FP3: 19th 1:33.857 (18 laps)
Q1: 20th 1:33.845 (6 laps)
Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21, VJM01/05):
FP1: 12th 1:33.392 (20 laps)
Q1: 18th 1:33.501 (5 laps)
The Force India Formula One Team will start tomorrow's Bahrain
Grand Prix with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil in 18th
and 20th positions. Once more the team was within 0.1 secs
of the second qualifying session and just over one second
from the top 10 as it continued its progress with the new
aerodynamic parts introduced this weekend.
Giancarlo finished a promising 12th position in the final
free practice session this morning, however was disappointed
to miss the cut for Q2 after running wide with a minor brake
issue on his first fast lap and then again on his second.
After a red flag period just before the end of the session,
Adrian got caught in traffic on his final fast lap and similarly
just missed out on the top 16 in the final minutes of the
session.
The team is however optimistic that the pace over longer
runs will result in an improved performance in the race tomorrow.
Adrian Sutil (car 20)
'The circumstances were quite difficult today and we just
had four minutes left when the session restarted after the
red flag so everybody went out to do a fast lap. It was very
difficult to judge the traffic on the out lap and to find
the space, but overall it was quite good. I feel better in
the car than in the last races so we have made an improvement,
but the field is very close and it is very hard to reach the
top 16. We are close, but not quite there at the moment, but
we will for sure improve for the next races.'
Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)
'Malaysia was five hundredths away, here it was close again
so it is really disappointing as we are almost there. We had
a problem with the front brakes and especially with the front
locking on both laps so it is a bit disappointing. It is important
to be close and try to move up in the race.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
'It was disappointing again to have missed out on Q2 by just
under a tenth. Both drivers just missed out on their final
laps, with both having a problem with locking brakes, but
we know we have a competitive car for the race and we will
have to look to pick up positions and get two cars to the
finish tomorrow.'
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