Budapest (Hungary), July 28 (IANS) A confident Force India, after their best performance in the season at Nurburgring, Germany, will look to go into a mid-season break with another points finish in the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix here over the weekend.
The team’s senior driver Adrian Sutil not only collected eight valuable points for his sixth-place at Nurburgring last weekend, he also finished ahead of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher of Mercedes, a team operating on a much higher budget than Force India.
The Silverstone-based team is confident of another performance like that at the Hungaroring but it will be tough considering the nature of the 4.3 km circuit. Force India have traditionally been competitive on high-speed circuits but the one here is the slowest after Monaco, with the drivers having to negotiate with the corners for most part of the 70-lap race.
‘It is a very small track that is tight and twisty without many places to overtake. You are nearly always in a corner so it is a bit like Monaco and you don’t get any chance to relax, apart from maybe the main straight,’ said Sutil, who could not finish the 2010 race.
‘We will run with maximum downforce there because it is one the slowest circuits on the calendar. The track is not used that much so it is usually quite dusty when we arrive. It cleans up as we start running, but Friday practice is always quite hard work. By the start of qualifying it has usually improved and the grip just builds up and up.’
The team’s rookie driver Paul di Resta will be under a bit of pressure going into the race as has not figured in the points bracket since the first two races. The Englishman said he is hoping for a turnaround with a good show here.
‘The Hungaroring is a short track, but it’s very demanding on the drivers physically and mentally. It is like a street track in terms of the layout and the number of corners mean the aero performance of the car is very important there,’ said di Resta.
‘All the corners seem to flow into each other and you need to find a good rhythm. I had my first experience of the track last year during free practice. Because of the tight nature of the lap, it has never been a track where there has been much overtaking, so it will be another good test of the DRS. It is the last race before the summer break so it would be good to come away with a strong result.’
Force India, with 20 points, are back to seventh place in the constructor’s championship and would want to further extend its lead over closest rivals Toro Rosso, who are at 17 points.
