Force India off to a good start at Brazil
Free practice for the penultimate race of the year, the Brazilian Grand Prix, got underway today at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in the heart of Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo. Light showers punctuated most of the day, making the timing for running crucial.
The Force India Formula One Team performed well in the changeable conditions, with Adrian Sutil setting the 9th quickest time in both sessions. Tonio Liuzzi was classified in 17th in the morning and 16th in the afternoon after hitting traffic on his potentially quickest laps.
Adrian completed 58 laps in total, making the most of the dry periods as he worked through his planned tyre and set-up evaluation for the anti-clockwise Interlagos track. Tonio Liuzzi, participating in only his fourth race for the team this weekend, similarly worked through his scheduled programme with no major issues, completing 62 laps over the day.
Adrian Sutil, car 20, VJM02/01:
FP1: 9th 1:13.232 (23 laps)
FP2: 9th 1:12.720 (35 laps)
Today went OK with no major problems, just working through everything as usual with the tyre comparisons. We didn't make any real changes on the car over the day as I was quite happy with the balance so we just waited until the grip improved on track and worked through the programme. The weather was a bit crazy and actually I think everyone expected more rain, but it was quite light. In FP2 in particular the track was wet in some places and dry in others so getting the right timing was important. I was quite pleased with the progress we made and I hope we can have a good day tomorrow in qualifying as well.
Tonio Liuzzi, car 21, VJM02/04:
FP1: 17th 1:13.829 (26 laps)
FP2: 16th 1:12.950 (36 laps)
With this unpredictable weather it's important to be out at exactly the right time to get the best of the track so perhaps the final classifications are not truly representative of the real order right now. We still have to work on the balance as it is not 100% just yet but overall the car is responding well to all the changes we have made. Unfortunately we just got caught in traffic every time we tried to do a good lap time but I'm happy we are going in the right direction for tomorrow. I think we could be in for a good qualifying, particularly if the weather stays so uncertain or if it rains some more as we have been pretty competitive in these types of conditions so far this year.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer:
A couple of periods of light rain during the practice sessions today meant that our programmes were adjusted slightly to get a proper look at the tyres. It seems to be quite a standard set-up with the medium and super soft, and the car balance is not too far away. It's very close through the field, I've never seen so many positions decided on thousandths, not even hundredths of a second. Qualifying will be about traffic management and timing and it looks like the weather could also play a part.
