SIXTH IN SINGAPORE: BRILLIANT!
Marina Bay Circuit, Singapore: Sunday, September 25, 2011
Paul delivered the best race and result of his rookie Formula One season when he powered his Force India VJM04 to sixth under the intensity of the streetlights of the Singapore Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Scot drove a flawless race on his debut in what is accepted as being the toughest, and most gruelling, grand prix of the season for drivers.
Naturally Paul, whose team-mate Adrian Sutil finished eighth to give Force India its first double-points finish of the season, was delighted with his performance.
"I'm very happy," Paul said after the race. "It was quite a long race. We were looking very strong before the Safety Car came out. We had chosen to go on the soft Prime tyres from the start, extend the run, then switch to the super-soft Option; we did that and we were still very quick.
"The team came on the radio and said they needed me to do another eight laps on them, and I managed that. In fact there was still a lot of running left on them when we pitted.
"Then the Safety Car came out and I thought it 'this is going to cause a bit of a problem', but when we changed back on to the soft Prime and the car was excellent. We could just really manage the pace in relation to (Nico) Rosberg, and to be honest there was still plenty left.
"After that it was then just a case of bringing the car home with the tyres in order and saving the fuel, just to be on the safe side.
"Because we were reasonably quite quick after some of the leading cars had made their initial stops, we were still up in amongst them.
"Of course they had quite a bit of pace compared to me at that point, because they had fresh tyres, but I wasn't going to compromise my own speed and my own track position, so we let them go. I think that was the key, being able to do that.
"Everything seemed to go as we planned it and when I was in free air we were very strong.
"Is it my best race so far this year? Definitely. But I think the main thing is we came here with an upgrade package which has enabled us to improve our performance in the race, plus it's allowed us to gain tyre life.
"Remember, I missed Free Practice 2 on Friday and had no high fuel runs going into the race; it was a complete unknown.
"This result is a major credit to the team. We all worked very hard this weekend to achieve the results and points we scored.
"It's also allowed us to open a bigger gap, 12 points, over Sauber in the race for sixth place in the Constructors' Championship. Now we head to Japan and Korea determined to maintain this level of performance."
Paul
Credit: Paul Di Resta (www.pauldiresta.com)
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