We will do even better in Europe: Sutil

Published>Thu, Apr 08 10 10:30 PM

With points from all three races so far, Force India already has the looks of a strong mid-field outfit and its German driver Adrian Sutil predicts the team would do even better once the Formula One championship enters its European leg next month.

Sutil, whose fifth place finish in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix earned the team 10 valuable points, said barring downforce, there was not much of a difference with Red Bull and he expects the upgrades that are lined up would bridge that gap in Europe.

"We are very close to the top teams and we're getting a new upgrade for the European races. Hopefully it will get us a few tenths on the car and a few positions," said Sutil.

"It's just the downforce. In F1 you're always looking to improve the downforce. That's what Red Bull has at the moment.

They have so much grip in the corners and that's why they are so fast.

"Our car is very easy and nice to drive, it has a good balance, we just need to improve the downforce a little bit, but that's what we're doing," said the lanky German.

After the Chinese Grand Prix later this month, the F1 caravan shifts to Europe where Sutil expects the outfit to strike it big.

Looking back at the Malaysian Grand Prix, the driver was happy to have broken his points duck this season and said it was all the more thrilling because of his fierce duel with pal Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.

"Of course it wasn't easy as he has one of the best cars in the field. Especially during the Malaysian weekend, McLaren was really, really strong. But I knew also my race performance is pretty good," Sutil said.

"Still, I had to push on in the last 20 laps because he'd got the advantage of the soft tyres until five laps to go, when his tyres were going off a little bit. But there was no problem really to keep my position.

"Of course he put a little bit of pressure but I had a good car in a straight line and I knew without any mistakes there was no chance for Lewis to pass me. It just sweetens up out fifth position, because we had to really fight for it," added Sutil.

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