Force India F1 scored its first top ten grand prix finish in Spain last weekend, after
Giancarlo Fisichella had run as high as eighth at one stage of the race at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Although it was another disappointing day for team-mate
Adrian Sutil, who was involved in a first lap accident, Fisichella's performance provided great encouragement for team owner Vijay Mallya.
Q:
How pleased were you to see Giancarlo running as high as eighth at Barcelona?
Vijay Mallya:
I was not expecting an eighth place finish when I saw the car in eighth, but I am very pleased that we made the top ten at the end of the race. We're getting better and better in every race. It was a shame that Adrian could not have a full race, as both cars started off very well. But these things happen in racing, if you start further down the grid, you have to take some risks; sometimes they work out very well and sometimes they don't. This is racing.
Q:
How important was it to get a decent finish like that?
VM:
Nothing is better than a top ten result. We've been in this game for five months, and being in the top ten is a great feeling. It's a feeling that makes us believe in ourselves, and the fact that we're making progress. We shouldn't underestimate this achievement - this team was getting better all the time last year, however regular top twelve finishes were something of a rarity. I hope this year we can make it a permanent trend.
Q:
Are you a little frustrated by qualifying and always just missing Q2?
VM:
I was disappointed with qualifying after such a strong practice on Friday and Saturday morning. Clearly, what I'm noticing is that we're not able to get good qualifying pace out of the car, and we need to investigate that thoroughly. But our race pace has always been decent. People have commented on it, and we showed it again in Spain. We are looking into why we cannot reproduce the lap times in qualifying now and I'm confident we will get to the bottom of it. We have to - if we can start higher up, the chances are we will finish higher up.
Q:
Once again Giancarlo was able to keep quicker cars behind him. Was that very satisfying?
VM:
Absolutely. In the last race he kept
Lewis Hamilton behind him, and this time he kept
Nick Heidfeld in a
BMW behind him for almost eight laps. It was great to see, and it was great brand exposure for us too!
Q:
Are we really seeing his experience pay off?
