Username
Password
Problems put paid to Force's Q2 chances

Sutil stuck in traffic
By Karl King April 5 2008
Force India's ambitions for Australia were clear. The team would've loved to have made it through to Q2 - underlining the progress the team has made from last year. The failed in the season opener but were tantalisingly close in Malaysia, Fisi missing out by 0.05 seconds. This weekend, we hoped, would be the weekend, but ultimately problems put paid to that.

A small brake problem on Fisi's car sent him into the gravel on his first run, putting a lot of pressure on the Roman for his second run.

However, he was affected by the problem again on his second lap and only managed the 18th fastest time. His lap was, though, very close to the Q2 cut off, missing out by only a tenth of a second.

Fisi said, "We had a problem with the front brakes and especially with the front locking on both laps so it is a bit disappointing."

Mike Gascoyne told ITV's coverage that without this problem, Fisi would easily have been in Q2, suggesting it cost him around 3 tenths of a second.

Adrian was ultimately happy with his lap, which was good enough for 20th, although complained of traffic problems in the hectic time after the red flag was lifted following the incident Takuma Sato.

He said, "It was very difficult to judge the traffic on the out lap and to find the space, but overall it was quite good."

Looking ahead to tomorrow's race, Mike Gascoyne concluded, "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."

BMW's Robert Kubica starts the race on pole, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa alongside.

Discuss this, and more, on our message board.
You do not currently need to be registered to post on our message board, but we reserve the right to change this at any time with no prior notice.

Bookmark or share this story with: