The FIA Formula One World Championship returns to action this weekend with the 11th round of the series, the European Grand Prix, held in the vibrant Spanish city of Valencia. The event will be the first race in four weeks and will kick-start a tough final half of the year, which includes both a European and overseas’ double header and four flyaway races.
The Force India Formula One Team goes to this next event in a buoyant mood following a strong finish to the first part of the season and confident in the new aero upgrades that will be introduced in Valencia.
Team Q&A
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Question: Force India had a strong end to the first part of the season. What have you got planned to sustain this momentum to the end of the year?
Dr Vijay Mallya: We have a major aerodynamic upgrade coming for Valencia, which includes a new floor, bargeboard area and front wing. We’re looking forward to it as we had a very successful aero test with Tonio in the week before the summer shutdown. With this knowledge I hope we’re able to maintain, if not improve, our relative position on track. F1 is more competitive than ever now so we need to keep these upgrades coming through and staying ahead of the others, who no doubt will
be improving as well.
Question: What will your aims be for this second part of the season?
Dr Vijay Mallya: We should definitely be Q2, maybe even the top of Q2 in Valencia and beyond. I’m quite optimistic as we’re also working on more upgrades for the final races of the season so fingers crossed we should be able to maintain our momentum. There’s more to come for Singapore as well in the latter part of the year so if we continue on our trajectory now we’re looking quite good, on target with the goals we set at the start of the year.
Driver Q&A
Adrian Sutil (car 20, VJM02/01)
Question: You’ve just had a four week break from racing. What did you do during this time off?
Adrian Sutil I’ve taken some time off to relax and train for the second part of the year, which is going to be pretty busy for us with a lot of races in a short amount of time and lots of travelling. I went to Bali to spend some time with my family, then returned to Switzerland to get ready for the European Grand Prix. I feel very refreshed now and I am looking forward to getting going again. As nice as it is to have four weeks off, I really want to get back in the car. We were going well before the break and I can’t wait to get started again.
Question: Valencia is another street circuit, and you’ve excelled on these in the past. What are your thoughts going into this race?
Adrian Sutil To be honest, Valencia isn’t one of my favourites. It’s a street circuit but it doesn’t feel like it as the roads are so wide and it’s really just fast straights into a hairpin, accelerate out and then another hairpin so you don’t get the adrenaline you would at Monaco. This year it could be quite good for us though as we have a big new upgrade. Every upgrade we’ve introduced so far this year has really made a difference so I have a lot of confidence that this will move us forward as well. The car is getting better and better to drive and with another upgrade I hope we will really be in the midfield now and in the hunt for points.
Question: Looking forward, what are your aims for the rest of the season?
Adrian Sutil We have this new upgrade that we hope will cement our Q2 positions and from there we should be regular midfield contenders. I’m looking to be reliable and avoid any mistakes and let’s see where we go from there. We have some more parts coming for the flyaway races as well so it should be a very strong end to the season.
Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21, VJM02/04)
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