Adrian Sutil is certainly happy with how his first Formula 1 race weekend in 12 months went.
The German hailed the Australian Grand Prix as the "perfect way to start" the season, after finishing in seventh place and collecting a good haul of points. Team-mate Paul Di Resta followed him across the line to take eighth.
The season opener was one where strategy was key, teams chose a mix of three and two stop strategies and it was the latter that paid off for Sutil.
He said "What a fantastic race and a great feeling. I started on the medium tyres, a different strategy to most of the cars ahead of me, and I think this was the right decision. The pace was quick and the car felt very good on the medium tyres so i was able to keep up with the guys in front of me, who I knew were going to pit early."
He added "It was not long until I was leading the race - my first time leading in Formula One. After my second pit stop I was back in the lead once again, so I knew that it was possible to come away with a great result."
Sutil tried a slightly longer stint on the super-softs to end the race but suffered higher graining, "my final stint on the super-softs was much more difficult because the tyres started graining and I lost a few places. I was thinking I might need to pit again, but fortunately the tyres came back to me for the final few laps so I could save seventh place."
Di Resta was left happy if not slightly disappointed. He said "seventh and eighth for the team is a great result and a great way to kick off the season. We've shown we have a car that is kind on its tyres and that helped us today by making less stops than some of our rivals. I feel I had a car that could have finished seventh, but I was stuck behind some of the three-stoppers at the start of my second stint and that cost me quote a lot of track position."
However he said they found a lot of positives over the race weekend. "There are a lot of positives to take from the race, as well as some things that we can improve to make the car stronger, but we're in a good position heading to Malaysia.
Kimi Raikkonen went from seventh to first in the Grand Prix, winning the race by a good few seconds from Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. To see me whole weekend review go here: http://bit.ly/XCoMID
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| (c) Sahara Force India F1 Team |
The season opener was one where strategy was key, teams chose a mix of three and two stop strategies and it was the latter that paid off for Sutil.
He said "What a fantastic race and a great feeling. I started on the medium tyres, a different strategy to most of the cars ahead of me, and I think this was the right decision. The pace was quick and the car felt very good on the medium tyres so i was able to keep up with the guys in front of me, who I knew were going to pit early."
He added "It was not long until I was leading the race - my first time leading in Formula One. After my second pit stop I was back in the lead once again, so I knew that it was possible to come away with a great result."
Sutil tried a slightly longer stint on the super-softs to end the race but suffered higher graining, "my final stint on the super-softs was much more difficult because the tyres started graining and I lost a few places. I was thinking I might need to pit again, but fortunately the tyres came back to me for the final few laps so I could save seventh place."
Di Resta was left happy if not slightly disappointed. He said "seventh and eighth for the team is a great result and a great way to kick off the season. We've shown we have a car that is kind on its tyres and that helped us today by making less stops than some of our rivals. I feel I had a car that could have finished seventh, but I was stuck behind some of the three-stoppers at the start of my second stint and that cost me quote a lot of track position."
However he said they found a lot of positives over the race weekend. "There are a lot of positives to take from the race, as well as some things that we can improve to make the car stronger, but we're in a good position heading to Malaysia.
Kimi Raikkonen went from seventh to first in the Grand Prix, winning the race by a good few seconds from Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. To see me whole weekend review go here: http://bit.ly/XCoMID
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