Indian GP: Adrian Sutil- One stop risky but worth a try

Adrian Sutil

Adrian Sutil believes that completing today’s Indian Grand Prix with a single stop was a risky strategy but worth a try considering it was Force India’s home race. The soft tyres had not lasted particularly well in the practice sessions and teams were interesting in doing the shortest stint possible on those tyres. But Sutil, who pitted on lap 41 spent a total of 19 laps on the faster but much more fragile option tyres.

“It was risky but I had the feeling I can do, it was worth a try,” Sutil told reporters after the race. “It shows that with a different strategy that so much is possible. And we were the only team along with the Lotus team who tried a one stop and we achieved it. “Force India had scored only three points since the summer break and were desperate for a good result at their home ground. With a double points finish in New Delhi, they’ve duly delivered that.

“Yes we needed some good points now, some good races again, it was tough, the last few races we tried many things to make it better, we didn’t go anywhere. So we focused on what we had, we had a very good balance and had the focus to achieve this one stop and have a consistent race.”

Despite being on a one stop strategy, Sutil could post the third fastest lap of the race, a feat he was particularly happy with the race. This further shows how much progress the team has made in understanding the new tyres which were introduced after multiple blowouts in Britain.“Every lap it was a possibility of suddenly getting blisters or grain up and the clock is amazingly quick on these tyres. So it’s a stage you have to be in if you go over it, which is very easy to manage then the tyres fall completely down and you lose 3 to 4 seconds suddenly, per lap. At that stage I had to be very careful, had to manage it to the end and there was quite pace available in the last two laps” I managed the third fastest lap of the race on a one stop I think is a great achievement. ” The Force India driver said.

Sutil further discussed about Grosjean’s race who also completed the race on a one stop strategy but chose to run the softer tyre at the start instead.

“It was easier to start on the soft because you take the weaker tyre at the beginner, and whenever it goes down, you put the stronger tyre out and finish the race. The way I did it, I had to do a certain amount of laps and then hope that tyre tyres last. But it worked well, who knows would have worked better.” The 30 year old told Rach F1 in the team hospitality.