Monaco turned out to be magical for Force India formula one driver German Adrian Sutil. The name now is recognised in India. In my college for matter, Adrian Sutil is a name which people now associate with guts.

A few races ago people were saying that retaining Adrian Sutil was perhaps a mistake with him constantly being out-shined by teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, and its true also. Sutil is way behind Giancarlo Fisichella in terms of dry races. The wet race at Monaco gave Sutil a chance to prove himself in the wet weather. Vijay Mallya confessed that Adrian Sutil had justified his retention, responding to his feelings at the Monaco Grand Prix, he said:

‘We were obviously shattered. We were so looking forward to a spectacular result, which was not to be. It has however done two things, and we need to take away the positives.

First that Adrian Sutil has a lot of ability and talent, and we’re glad and proud to have him in our team. Some people started questioning my decision to keep
him when he didn’t finish a few races at the start of the season, but I think he has more than redeemed himself.

Secondly I think our strategy and our whole team came together. The race strategy was right, the set-up was right, and to see a Force India car running fourth in Monaco was a great pleasure while it lasted. We were seven minutes from home. It was unfortunate, but I guess that’s what racing is all about. I can’t say that I’m not feeling sad, because I am, but we’ll get over it, and we’ll take away a lot of positives.’  Vijay Mallya said

The Internet value of Adrian Sutil has also increased a lot, the site got a lot of hits with people searching from Adrian Sutil (surprisingly no one from Germany)  bios to his photos from the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix. So here is another photo of Adrian Sutil for his new fans, its a photo op shot i think :

Photo Copyright : Force India F1

We give you 2 photos of Force India F1 team from the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix where Adrian Sutil almost finished in a point scoring position before Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari hit him from behind, the first one is of Vijay Mallya with Indian actresses Riya Sen and her sister Raima Sen.

The other is of Adrian Sutil before he crashed, at that time he seems to be in front of a McLaren.

Anyway, it would be better if Mr. Mallya would invite fans to visit the races rather than actresses who wont even know the drivers’s names.

Images Copyright : Force India Media

The post is a little late, we were shifting the site to a new server, if anything is broken let me know.

What do you do when you are unable to overtake Force India F1 in a Ferrari, well ofcourse hit it so hard that the other person is forced to retire. This is what seems to have happened at the Monaco Grand Prix. While many argue that what happened was an accident, and indeed even if it was it doesnt change the fact that it was an accident caused due to a driver error by Kimi Raikkonen and kicked out Force India formula one team and Adrian Sutil from a potential point winning position.

Kimi Raikkonen later did apologise though,

I said I am sorry for him and his team because probably they are not going to be often in the position to score a fourth position. Plus it was in Monaco.

“So it was harder for him than for me, but it was a racing incident and I could not go anywhere. There wasn’t much space and I could not slow down.

“It was just a racing incident. I just locked the rear brakes on the bump and you cannot really slow the car after that. There was nowhere to go, and not enough space to try and avoid him.

“Basically I just think my brakes were a bit too cold and I locked the rear. I nearly lost the car but unfortunately I hit him, and it is sad for them.

“So, I feel sorry for him, but I could not do anything. I tried to slow down but there was nowhere to go and nowhere to slow down, and I lost fifth place.”

Adrian Sutil took positives out of the race:

I am just disappointed. It is hurting so much. We did a great race and we made no mistakes. We did a perfect strategy, everything went well. We did fastest laptimes during the race, and the performance was great for this car. For Force India this was an absolute highlight over the past few years.

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen ensured that the front row at Monaco would be all red. Massa snatched pole position from teammate Kimi Raikkonen just near the end of the session.

Felipe Massa was pretty happy with his lap and had this to say after the race:

“I still cannot believe I’m on pole , It’s unbelievable.

“I was pushing very hard to try and learn how to drive here because every time I come here I am struggling.

“I tried to improve and learnt some tricks in some corners and I did a perfect lap, which is almost impossible in Monaco.”

The qualifying order for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix 2008::

1 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1min 15.787secs
2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:15.815
3 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:15.839

4 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:16.165

5 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:16.171

6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:16.548

7 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Renault 1:16.852

8 Jarno Trulli (It) Toyota 1:17.203

9 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:17.343

10 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 1:15.839

11 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:15.907

12 Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:16.101

13 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:16.455

14 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:16.479

15 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:16.537

16 Sebastien Bourdais (Fr) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.806

17 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Brz) Renault 1:16.933

18 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.955

19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:17.225

20 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:17.823

Image Copyright : Ferrari Media

The first one is a video of Lewis Hamilton crashing a kart in London in June 2007, the second one is Heikki Kovalainen’s crash captured by a fan in the Grandstands. Enjoy

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