Formula One veteran
Giancarlo Fisichella was sufficiently encouraged by his performance in the Bahrain Grand Prix to suggest that
Force India could be challenging for top ten finishes before too long.
Although he again failed to make the second phase of qualifying, the Italian made a good getaway at the Sakhir circuit to find himself in eleventh place by the third lap, and, for the second consecutive race, fought with the Honda of
Rubens Barrichello, keeping the Brazilian at bay until his first scheduled pit-stop on lap 22.
Despite slipping behind Barrichello as the Force India team tyred and fuelled his car, Fisichella fought hard to keep in touch with the
Honda, taking the chequered flag in twelfth position. His six place gain over starting position was the best improvement of any driver in the field, and led Fisichella to suggest that it would only need another small improvement on the VJM01 to move the team into contention.
"I had a good start and I overtook some cars in turn one and then some more when some cars spun in turn seven," the veteran enthused, "Our pace was consistent, so I had a good race, even though, in the middle stint, there were some problems with the soft tyres and they did not seem to work as well as they could have. But, at the end of the race, the hard tyres were working well and I was comfortable. I am really happy about my race, the team has done a good job so far and we just need to improve the car a little bit more and then we will be there."
Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne shared Fisichella's enthusiasm after a tough start to the year.
"It was a great race for the team and good to be racing again," he said, "Giancarlo had a storming race and made up a lot of positions on the opening lap. It was a shame to lose out on the pit-stops to Barrichello, and then to get lapped just before the end but, apart from that, it is promising for the team to finally be racing again."
