Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella posted the eighth fastest time while completing 97 laps as the VJM02 car displayed immaculate reliability for the third day on the trot at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Fisichella's best lap of 1min 21.545 was better than Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi (1:21.569) and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (1:21.657) whose first experience with the new aero package of the MP4-24 concluded with a crash after 86 laps.
The double finish in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday ticked all the boxes barring aerodynamics and Force India is just a few refinements away from its maiden Formula One points, owner of the Silverstone-based outfit Vijay Mallya said. Mallya said reliability was his main concern coming into the 2009 session but the Australian Grand Prix dispelled all fears and aerodynamic development is all the VJM02 needed to break the duck.
The VJM02 will remain the same blindingly fast car, with or without Giancarlo Fisichella, and Adrian Sutil is good enough to score points in the remaining five races of the 2009 season, said Force India chairman Vijay Mallya.
Kimi Raikkonen dashed Adrian Sutil's fairytale home race as Force India, for the umpteenth time, came agonisingly close to scoring its first Formula One points before falling to the jinx at the German Grand Prix in Nuerburgring, on Sunday. In a repeat of last year's Monaco Grand Prix, Raikkonen bruised Sutil's VJM02 just when the German, running second, was coming out of the pit and knocked off the front wing to force a pit-stop that dashed Sutil's point hopes.
Adrian Sutil outshone the likes of Lewis Hamilton to lap ninth quickest in both the practice sessions for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix as Force India's new car promised a turnaround in the fortune of the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit.
Force India Formula One driver Adrian Sutil says Italian team mate Giancarlo Fisichella has made him stronger for the season ahead. The German said he learned from watching the Roman's approach and had closed the gap by the end of the season.
Force India will give their new Mercedes-powered Formula One car its track debut at Jerez in southern Spain on Sunday, the team said in a statement.
The new Force India car, equipped with Mercedes engine and McLaren gearbox, will be unveiled in Spain early March, team owner Vijay Mallya said in New Delhi on Sunday.
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