For Force India it was a case of salvaging as many points as they could after a disastrous qualifying session at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil came through the field from 15th to come home in 9th place. Vitantonio Liuzzi failed to finish after colliding with Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld in the early stages of the race.

Sutil had finished the race in 8th but was then given a 20 second penalty after the stewards deemed that the German left the track at turn seven on the first lap to gain an advantage. Nico Hulkenburg was also given a 20 second penalty which demoted him to 10th.

Finishing in the points was exactly what Adrian and the team needed. However Force India are now only four points ahead of Williams in the Constructors after both Rubens Barrichello and Hulkenburg finished in the Top 10.

Qualifying woe

Force India had yet another disappointing qualifying session with Sutil ending up in 16th and Liuzzi qualifying 17th.

Adrian finished in the Top 10 in two of the three Practice sessions and you would have backed the German to get into Q3. But this wasn’t to be.

Sutil will have been frustrated with his performance in qualifying and ending up 16th was not what he and the team wanted.

Tonio Liuzzi will have also been kicking himself after yet another poor Saturday. The Italian only managed 16th place in Q1 and personally I thought he was a dead cert to be eliminated in Q2. And so it proved.

Liuzzi’s qualifying form this season has been too inconsistent and qualifying 17th was no major surprise for me. I would also not be surprised if Liuzzi is replaced by Paul di Resta next season.

Salvage

Both Adrian and Tonio started the race in 15th and 16th after Hulkenburg was given a five place drop.

However Vitantonio’s weekend got worse when he was forced to retire on the second lap after colliding with Nick Heidfeld twice.

The Italian’s car was deemed to be in a dangerous position which led to the safety car and allowed the likes of Mark Webber, Vitaly Petrov, Sebastian Buemi and Adrian Sutil to pit.

After making his one and only stop, Sutil came out in 14th. On Lap 7 the German moved up to 12th after Hulkenburg and Petrov collided.

Adrian then lost a lot of time behind the stubborn Virgin Racing car of Timo Glock and that could have so easily have ruined his race.

Nonetheless once Adrian got past his fellow German, he was able to make up ground on Kamui Kobayashi and Michael Schumacher. Sutil was running ninth on Lap 33 after Schumacher pitted and Kobayashi hit the wall at Turn 18.

Three laps later, Adrian moved up to 8th following Lewis Hamilton’s second consecutive DNF. The 2008 World Champion collided with Red Bull’s Mark Webber and that allowed Sutil to gain an extra place.

A right rear puncture for Robert Kubica meant he had to pit on Lap 46 and Sutil moved up to seventh. Kubica came out in 12th and was now on a set of fresh tyres.

The Renault driver got past Buemi, Petrov, Felipe Massa and Hulkenburg within seven laps and it was always going to be difficult for Adrian to keep Kubica behind him especially with the field so tight.

Kubica did get past Sutil although the German did put up a brave fight to try and keep his position. Adrian managed to bring the car home in 8th and did well to keep Hulkenburg and Massa behind him. However Sutil’s penalty relegated him to 9th and promoted Massa to 8th.

Concern

It was two welcome points for Adrian and Force India but it was also two much needed points as well.

The worrying thing for Force India is that Williams now have the momentum and with Liuzzi out of form, it may well be down to Sutil to keep the points coming.

Barrichello qualified a superb 6th place for Williams so it was vital for Sutil to score points. The fact that both Barrichello and Hulkenburg finished in the points will have also been a concern for Force India.

It’s fair to say that qualifying did not go to plan for Force India but to be fair to Adrian he did very well to finish 9th bearing in mind he started the race in 15th.

Tonio’s recent form is a concern for everyone associated with Force India and it may well be that Paul di Resta could be given the opportunity to race for the team next season in place of the Italian.

After a promising start to the season, Liuzzi has somewhat faded and it is now crucial that he starts scoring points not only for himself but for the team.

Force India for sure will be looking over their shoulders and finishing 6th in the Constructors is so vital.

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