By IANS,
Montreal (Canada) : A severe lack of grip in the qualifying session dashed Force India’s hopes of starting high up on the grid but the team wants to put the disappointment behind and race for a better finish at the Canadian Grand Prix later Sunday.
Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella will start at 17th and 18th position respectively following a close qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve Saturday.
The duo, who both completed three runs each in the 20 minute Q1, could not match the pace of the earlier practice, which saw positions eight to 18 separated by just seven tenths of a second. The team now hopes for an improvement in the 70-lap race.
Lewis Hamilton stole the first place on the grid with his McLaren-Mercedes. BMW’s Robert Kubica took the second place while World champion Kimi Raikkonen came third in a Ferrari.
Hot, sultry weather conditions were a welcome change Saturday from rain and wind during the practise sessions. The change of temperature, however led to a change of track conditions, with both drivers reporting significantly reduced grip levels from even the morning’s final practice session.
“The grip this afternoon was definitely worse than the morning. It was not too bad in practice and we found a good set up and compromise with the aero and we were quite competitive. It was practically undriveable and really disappointing that we could not have finished higher up,” Fisichella said.
Sutil too felt that they were done in by he grip level which was very low.
“We were almost there, but just not enough and we will start in 17th. I actually had a worse feeling with the car and the tyres here than in the morning. The grip level was very, very low and everyone struggled,” Sutil said.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer, believes the race will be difficult but the team will have to keep their focus.
“Given these sort of track conditions and the changeable weather it will be a very difficult race for anyone. However I am sure with our better race pace we can look to have a strong performance. We hope for a better result Sunday,” Gascoyne said.