Formula One news

Impressive Saturday for Force India

Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil were all smiles after passing through to the second phase of the qualifying session in Monaco on Saturday. Despite the deletion of two laps for cutting chicanes, the former lines up thirteenth with his team-mate, who narrowly missed out a points finish last year, just two places further back.

With Hamilton and both cars from the BMW and Toyota teams failing to make the cut from Q1, Force India took full advantage of the rare situation to enjoy the team's most effective qualifying session since Vijay Mallya took over from Spyker last year. "It feels a bit like a pole position for us and it was fun to be able to do it," said Sutil, who was taken out of fourth position by Kimi Räikkönen in the closing stages of 2008's race.

A day of relaxation on Friday was followed by a double Q2 success for Force India on Saturday

"I think we can be really satisfied and very happy with the performance today," team-mate Fisichella continued, whose best Monaco result to date is second for Benetton in 1998. "The team worked well and two cars in the top fifteen is good, very encouraging. For tomorrow I want to get to the end of the race and, let's see, this is Monaco - you never know what can happen."

"Everything came together, the team did a good job in the garage and I felt my lap was strong," a happy Sutil continued. "It was difficult with the traffic - and then the stoppages - but it was a good run. Tomorrow I hope we will be able to fight in the midfield and try to get ahead of some people. The start could be a bit tricky, as it always is here, but I feel all set for tomorrow - we are really motivated now and hoping for a good race."

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