Q&A with Adrian Sutil

Adrian Sutil endured mixed fortunes in the Canadian GP, but was happy to come away with another finish in the points for Force India. His race was ruined by a puncture from contact with Robert Kubica, who subsequently received a reprimand for his dangerous entry into the pits. After losing a lot of time, and despite serious damage to the floor of the car, Adrian fought back to claim 10th place from Michael Schumacher on the very last lap. However, it could have been a lot better. We asked him about Montreal and the next event in Valencia

Q: Did you get caught up in the incident at the first corner?

I had a great start from ninth and I was right next to Massa into the first corner. It was quite a mess there and he hit Tonio. They were really pinched together and I tried to go on the inside. I was past Kubica already, but I was quite affected by this incident and had to back off, so he got the position back. Then I was following him around, and it was quite an exciting race, with a lot of fights with him.

Q: You made an early tyre stop. Did that work out for you?

I stopped on lap six, because the soft tyres were really degraded. I went out on a fresh set of primes and it was quite good, but still after five or six laps I could feel the graining also starting on the hard one, and I had to take it really easy when was chasing Robert.

Q: You picked up a puncture from contact with Kubica. What happened?

I was trying to pass him, but I didn’t know that he was going into the pits. He suddenly backed off. He was right behind me, and I thought, ‘Good I’ve gained a position.’ I was braking as normal before the chicane, and suddenly he came flying down the inside. I thought he’d missed his braking point and was trying to get the position back. But then he pulled into the pits, and I was wondering, ‘What did he do?’. He touched me slightly on the rear right tyre, and I got a puncture. Within 200m the pressure dropped down, and under braking for the first corner I lost the car and went straight. That manoeuvre ended my race.

Q: How much did the incident cost you?

I was so unlucky, because I had to do the whole lap with a punctured tyre. I lost around 20 seconds, and it did huge damage to the floor. There was no real floor left on that side, to be honest! And then I just had to race as it was. I still did a good race, and could fight for positions. It was tough, but I got a point in the end.

Q: How hard was it to come back after that stop?

It was hard, because you had the tyre graining and then you lose a lot of downforce, because your floor is not doing the right thing or is just not there anymore! And then you grain the tyres up even easier. So it was a hard race just to survive.

Q: Both you and Tonio passed Michael Schumacher on the last lap. What happened?

I passed him at the last corner. He was struggling on the tyres, which was really good for me. We were side-by-side on the straight, and I was just braking later for the last chicane, and passed him on the outside. So I got the last point out of it. I really worked hard for it, I had a hard race! You had to push all the time, try to defend your position, try to push for position, overtake people. In the end I got at least one point.

Q: Both of you had delays because of contact, but still ended up in the top 10. What does that say about how good the package was in Montreal?

We missed out on a big chance. It was not our fault, but still we missed a big chance. I think position five or six was possible, certainly sixth behind Mark Webber. The pace was good, we knew that after qualifying, so it was a little bit disappointing. But we can be happy that both cars finished in the points.

Q: How do you feel about Valencia? The team made a good step there last year.

Last year we were quite good in Valencia. I finished 10th and the car should go pretty well there again, but it’s a bit different to Montreal, where you have longer straights and just chicanes. You need a bit more downforce in Valencia. But it should still suit our car.

Q: Do you like the circuit?

It’s not the most interesting circuit! It’s nice and smooth, so it grips up, and you don’t have too much trouble. The problem is there are no challenging corners. It’s just straight on, there’s a hairpin with a lot of run-off area, and then you turn around and go flat again. The last section is flat out, and quite easy. For a street circuit you expect exciting races, but it’s like a normal track.

Q: We’ve had some exciting races recently. Don’t you think that will continue in Valencia?

I hope so. Montreal was a fantastic race for everybody, good for everyone to look at it. But Valencia is not such a chaotic race because the tyres work really well there. Montreal was just dominated by the tyres, which was why so much overtaking was possible. It was the situation of the whole weekend.