A pit-stop fumble cost Force India their second successive podium finish but Adrian Sutil took the chequered flag fourth to win five invaluable points from the Italian Grand Prix here on Sunday.
Starting second on the grid, Sutil could have done an encore of Force India’s podium finish in Belgium but the German fumbled in his second pit stop, missing the mark and nearly knocking out two of his own pit crew.
His teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi, had a heartbreaking debut as the Italian rose to fourth only to retire after 23 laps with a gearbox gremlin.
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It was a one-two for Brawn with Rubens Barrichello beating teammate Jenson Button by 2.8 seconds.
Force India now has 13 points and the vastly improved outfit would now look forward to make the most of the remaining four races of the season.
Despite the pit-stop goof up, Sutil never gave up and was hot on the heels of Kimi Raikkonen’s Kinetic Energy Recovery System-powered Ferrari car even though he could not overtake the Finn.
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The duel with Raikkonen was the highlight of Sutil’s spectacular race even though the Force India driver did not manage to get past his Ferrari opponent.
Raikkonen and Sutil in fact pitted on the same lap but the extra time that Sutil needed proved decisive in the end, denying him his first podium place.
This was Sutil’s first points for the Silverstone-based outfit and his cause was helped by Lewis Hamilton’s last lap crash when the McLaren driver was running third.
Giancarlo Fisichella, who had recorded Force India’s first pole and podium finish in Belgium last week, came ninth in his debut for Ferrari