• Korean Grand Prix - Qualifying

Force India keeps options open

Paul di Resta starts ahead of Adrian Sutil by virtue of starting a flying lap © Sutton Images

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• Report:
• Hamilton secures McLaren's first pole of 2011
  

• Race:
• Korean Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Paul di Resta
• |
• Adrian Sutil

• Teams:
• Racing Point

Force India pair Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil did not set a lap time in Q3 in order to open up as many strategic possibilities in the Korean Grand Prix.

Sutil and di Resta made it through to the top ten shootout in ninth and tenth places respectively with less than 0.1s in hand over Jaime Alguersuari in 11th. With further progress unlikely, both drivers stayed in the garage until di Resta went out to set sector times at the end of Q3. That allows him to start ahead of Sutil in ninth, and di Resta said that was important to be on the racing line.

"We looked quite strong throughout the session, although we seemed to be very close on performance with the cars around us - so it was a tight session as well," di Resta said. "It's good to make Q3 and it puts me in a strong position tomorrow, especially starting from the clean side of the grid. For the race the important thing is to be aggressive with our strategy because there are some fast cars behind us, including a Mercedes, and we need to work hard to keep them at bay. That won't be easy because I expect the DRS zone to be quite effective here. So there's a lot of hard work ahead tomorrow, but we go into the race believing we can bring home some points."

Sutil himself said that saving tyres was key because the races had shown how important fresh rubber can be.

"Considering the limited dry track time we had during practice, I think we can pleased with our performance level today," Sutil said. "Getting both cars in the top ten is a good result and we can have a strong race from there. I took the decision to save tyres during Q3 and I believe it was the right thing to do. Having as many new sets for the race is an advantage - that's something we've already seen in lots of races this year. Starting from the dirty side of the track is not ideal, but there is not a very long run to the first corner so let's see how the start of the race unfolds."

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