Sahara Force India drivers put up a strong show in the qualifying session today as Paul di Resta secured ninth place on the grid and Adrian Sutil 10th for tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix here.
Resta’s single untimed lap in Q3 moved him to ninth ahead team mate Sutil, who did not venture out as a strategy to save tyres for the race.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (1:35.820) secured the pole position while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (1:36.042), who has already secured the drivers’ championship, was second.
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McLaren’s Jenson Button (1:36.126) was third followed by Red Bull’s Mark Webber.
“It’s good to make Q3 and it puts me in a strong position tomorrow, especially starting from the clean side of the grid. For the race the important thing is to be aggressive with our strategy because there are some fast cars behind us, including a Mercedes, and we need to work hard to keep them at bay. That won’t be easy because I expect the DRS zone to be quite effective here,” Resta said.
Sutil defended his decision of not doing any lap in Q3.
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“Getting both cars in the top 10 is a good result and we can have a strong race from there. I took the decision to save tyres during Q3 and I believe it was the right thing to do. Having as many new sets for the race is an advantage - that’s something we’ve already seen in lots of races this year. Starting from the dirty side of the track is not ideal, but there is not a very long run to the first corner so let’s see how the start of the race unfolds,” Sutil said.
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal, said, “We know we will have a fight on our hands to convert today’s result into points, but we have all the strategy options available to us so we’re well placed to do so.”