Force India were reprimanded by stewards at the German Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday after mixing up their drivers' tyres.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella is set to drive for the Force India Formula One team this season with compatriot Vitantonio Liuzzi taking the role of tester, sources said on Tuesday.
VJM-04, Force India's car for the 2011 Formula One season, completed its first ever laps with Adrian Sutil on driving duties on the first day of the second pre-season test at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain.
The Indian-owned team said the two drivers would join German Adrian Sutil at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on November 14 and 15.
Germany's Adrian Sutil and Frenchman Jules Bianchi are frontrunners for Force India's second Formula One race seat but the decision is about more than just the highest bidder, the team said on Friday.
Force India answered any lingering doubters on Saturday by roaring onto the front row of the Formula One starting grid for the second time in as many races. Team owner Vijay Mallya allowed himself to savour the moment after Germany's Adrian Sutil qualified second at the Italian Grand Prix.
Force India had a dream race at the Belgian Grand Prix last year with their first ever pole, podium and championship points but the F1 team says it will be difficult to repeat the marvellous 2009 show when the second part of the season begins in Spa, Belgium on Sunday.
Adrian Sutil finished 13th while team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi retired after his car crashed with Michael Schumacher's Mercedes as Force India failed to collect a single point from the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and end the Formula One championships at seventh in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Britain's Paul di Resta and Germany's Nico Hulkenberg will race for Sahara Force India next season, the Formula One team said on Friday. Hulkenberg will replace compatriot Adrian Sutil at the Silverstone-based team.
Force India's point-scoring streak came to an abrupt end in a chaotic Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday with Adrian Sutil finishing 11th while his team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi retired after an opening lap brake problem.
Force India managed to finish among points for the second successive race with Paul Di Resta signing off 10th in the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang on Sunday.
Paul di Resta finished a career-best sixth, while Adrian Sutil ended at eighth, as Force India recorded its best result of the Formula One season with the team collecting 12 points at the Singapore Grand Prix, in Singapore, on Sunday.
Force India is banking on a new aero update and its drivers' liking for the layout to swell its point tally in the Monaco Grand Prix here on Sunday.
German Adrian Sutil will drive for Sauber next season, the Formula One team said on Friday, replacing Nico Hulkenberg who moved in the opposite direction to Force India last week.
Formula One outfit Force India's driver Paul di Resta secured an eighth position start, while teammate Adrian Sutil managed to take 11th place on the grid after the qualifying race for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
Despite introducing new aero package, Force India will start Sunday's British Grand Prix from the back of the grid with Adrian Sutil at 19th, just ahead of teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. Force India's gamble of putting in a series of laps in the opening 10 minutes and then a final flying lap in the dying minute nearly paid dividends, with Fisichella almost breaking into the top 15 on his very last lap.
Sahara Force India returned with one point from Korean Grand Prix as Paul di Resta finished ninth and Adrian Sutil just ended outside the top-10 bracket, in Yeongam, South Korea, on Sunday.
The second qualifying session (Q2) continues to elude Force India which will have Giancarlo Fisichella 18th on the starting grid followed by Adrian Sutil in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Force India plan to give their 2009 Formula One car its track debut in early March after working flat out to integrate the new Mercedes engine and McLaren gearbox.
Sahara Force India continued to struggle as Adrian Sutil will start Singapore's Singapore Grand Prix from 15th position on the grid and Paul di Resta from 17th.
Force India's young German driver Adrian Sutil reckons having three-time champion Giancarlo Fisichella as teammate raises the bar for him. He believes the challenge is to match up to the Italian in the upcoming Formula One season.
Paul di Resta retired in the first lap for the first time in his F1 career and Adrian Sutil finished 16th at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday as Sahara Force India returned without points for the fourth time in the season.
Paul di Resta was pipped by Renault's Bruno Senna in the dying minutes of the Q2 session as none of the Force India cars made it to the top-10 in the qualifying session of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Italy on Saturday.
German Nico Hulkenberg will drive for Force India next season, the British-based Formula One team said on Tuesday.
Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta made their apologies to rivals and colleagues on Sunday after a disappointing Korean Grand Prix for the Formula One team.
The Sahara Force India celebrated its 100th race in style, scoring seven points with Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil finishing in seventh and 10th places respectively at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
Adrian Sutil has seen the chequered flag only twice this season but the Force India driver is confident of ending the "luckless spell" in his home race -- the German Grand Prix -- where he will be racing for the first time in his Formula One career. Although familiar with the Hockenheim track, where he has always managed podium finishes since his Formula Ford days, Sutil said his Formula One debut at his home track would still be a special moment for him.
Adrian Sutil produced Force India's best result of the current Formula One season by finishing seventh in the action-packed Monaco Grand Prix, in which five drivers failed to finish the race in Monte Carlo on Sunday.
Adrian Sutil clocked the ninth best time of the morning session on Friday before returning to finish seventh fastest in the afternoon as Force India made all the right noise ahead of Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil is still rankled by the missed opportunity in Montreal where, he reckons, a top five finish was well within the realm of possibility but for the contact with Robert Kubica which left him with a punctured tyre.
Force India's Adrian Sutil notched up a career-best equalling performance in Formula One by finishing fifth at the rain-marred and action-filled Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.
Sahara Force India had a disappointing outing as Adrian Sutil managed 14th while team mate Paul di Resta was two places below at 16th in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, on Sunday.
Adrian Sutil clocked the seventh fastest time in a rain-truncated session as inclement weather disrupted Force India's testing at the Circuit de Jerez on Wednesday.
Giancarlo Fisichella has made Germany's Adrian Sutil raise his game since they became Force India team mates this season, according to the Formula One team's principal Colin Kolles. Italian veteran Fisichella, a race winner with former team Renault, was comfortably quicker in the early races of the season but the highly-rated Sutil, 25, has had the better results of late.
Both the Sahara Force drivers missed out on Q3 in the qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix as Paul di Resta will begin the race from 11th place while Adrian Sutil from 13th, in Shanghai.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil has described his 12th place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix as 'positive' after starting from the grid-tail.
Sahara Force India team principal Vijay Mallya, on Thursday, refused to reveal whether he will retain Adrian Sutil for the next season but said he would convey his decision to the German driver whenever he wants.
Force India's Adrian Sutil breezed into the third qualifying session (Q3) and will start Sunday's Australian Grand Prix 10th on the grid which will have India's lone F1 driver Karun Chandhok in the last row. Both the Force India cars should have been in Q3 but Sutil's team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi was caught up in traffic and the Italian, who scored the outfit's first points in Bahrain, would be 13th on the starting grid.
Gushing winds upset Force India's second day of testing, with Adrian Sutil posting the slowest time of the 16 drivers at the Circuit de Jerez in Spain. Though he managed to cover 373 km on Wednesday, Sutil's best lap time of 1 min 22.244 was slowest of the lot.
As if not finishing the race at the Korean Grand Prix was not enough, Force India's Adrian Sutil was on Sunday handed a five-place grid penalty, carrying into next month's Brazillian GP.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances