Whilst Sutil crashed out of the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix,
Giancarlo Fisichella has a stellar record around the temporary circuit based on the Ile Notre-Dame, securing four successive rostrums there from 1997 to 2000, and taking three further points finishes from twelve participations in total.
The Italian has generally out-paced his young team-mate so far in 2008 – out-qualifying him five-one and invariably out-pointing him on race day too, with the obvious exception of Monte Carlo where he lost first and second gears early on – and with five top six starting positions under his belt in Montreal, is hopeful of finally hauling
Force India beyond the Q1 drop-zone on Saturday for the first time this season.
“Montreal is probably the event I enjoy the most,” the 35-year-old veteran of 200 grand prix starts enthused. “I love the city and the circuit and I have always done well, with four podiums in four years and two fourth place finishes. Although I have never won it, I did lead the 2005 race before retiring with a hydraulic problem.
“To do well, you need to have a well-balanced car with a good aero compromise and you have to be gentle with the brakes, which is always a big challenge in Montreal. For this race we will have a new aero package that we tested at Paul Ricard three weeks ago. It felt good, and again my car was well-balanced and the times were in-line with our expectations.
“We are now about a third of the way through the season and I think we are more-or-less where we expected to be. I still feel we could have scored points in Melbourne and Monaco, which was not a good weekend for me in my 200th race. It was also a big disappointment for Adrian, but even so I think there were some positives from that weekend. We made no mistakes as a team in terms of strategy and drivers' performance.
“From here on in we need to wait for more improvements to come and continue to push, but I still think a midfield finish is possible in Canada, unless of course the weather gives us a big hand again, as it did in Monte Carlo!”
