2011 end of term report – Paul di Resta

Paul di Resta was one of the rookies of the 2011 Formula One World Championhship.
The Scot was promoted to a racing seat at Force India and was paired with the experienced Adrian Sutil. He showed good maturity and scored 27 points.

Season review

Di Resta closed in on his goal in 2010, when Force India hired him as reserve driver. In this role, he gathered valuable experience and started working with the team’s engineers. He also did some Friday testing. In the meantime, he pursued his career in the DTM and clinched the title at the last race.
Convinced by the newly-crowned DTM champion, Force India promoted him to a racing seat in 2011.

The Mercedes-backed driver missed the top ten in Australia but inherited a point from the Saubers’ disqualification. Two weeks later, in Malaysia, in qualified on the 7th row of the grid and finished the race in 10th position.

However, the next eight rounds proved more complicated for Di Resta and he scored no points. The Canadian Grand Prix was a weekend of highs and lows for the Scot. He was running in fifth position when he collided with Nick Heidfeld and broke his front wing. He was given a drive through penalty for causing the collision. Later in the race, he was about to attack Rubens Barrichello for ninth place when he made a mistake and crashed in the wall.

From the British Grand Prix onwards, the Force India became more competitive and Paul di Resta made good use of his car to add more points to his tally. He finished 7th in Hungary, 8th in Italy and an impressive 6th at Singapore. He finished in the points three more times in the final part of the season.

Conclusion

Paul di Resta performed well in his rookie season and was the rookie of the year. He made few mistakes and was impressively reliable – he completed 1106 out of the 1133 laps of the championship. He finished 13th in the standings, 15 points behind his teammate Adrian Sutil.

His strong showing in 2011 earned him his place at Force India for next year. He will team up with Nico Hulkenberg.

Highs
—  Rookie of the year
—  6th on the British Grand Prix starting grid
—  6th at Singapore

Lows
—  Crashed in Canada
—  Some erratic strategies
—  Finished 15 points behind Sutil

Nextgen-Auto.com marks:
— Olivier Ferret : 16/20
— D.Thys : 15/20
— Sandrine Bouchard : 14/20
— Jean-Michel Setbon : 14/20
— Average mark on the forum Nextgen-Auto.com : 13/20
—  Total : 72/100