Nice Surprise In Friday Practise
By Alianora La Canta
March 28 2009
When the F1 brigade arrived in Sunny Melbourne, Force India was widely seen as likely to be demoted to near the back of the field, after initially looking like strong midfielders. Well, it looks like the first impression was the right one. Sutil was 9th in both the first and second practise sessions while Fisichella was 14th in the morning and 13th in the afternoon.
Beating both McLarens, both Scuderia Toro Rossos and an assorted cast including Piquet Jr, the BMWs and the Ferraris, Adrian Sutil impressed pretty much everybody. Apart from the Ferraris, he was clearly the fastest driver of a car with a single-deck diffuser (as opposed to the controversial double-deck diffuser) - and even the Ferraris couldn't beat him in Sector 2.
Giancarlo Fisichella had a more difficult time. This was attributed to the rear of the car locking. Hopefully he will find a solution tomorrow because at the moment he looks like qualifying a couple of rows behind his less-experienced team-mate.
Still, Force India's performance on Friday was very pleasing.