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F1 2011 Season Preview: The Drivers and Teams

Force India-Mercedes
#14 Adrian Sutil
#15 Paul di Resta

After a season where it looked like they ready to make a leap solidly into the midfield, it looks as though Force India has regressed in 2011. Their testing pace has them slightly ahead of Lotus but not really in touch with any of the established teams. You almost have to wonder how much the team’s driver drama distracted them from hitting the ground running for testing. The team had four drivers under consideration for their cars at one point. Sutil was the team leader and likely to get a seat. Paul di Resta was likely to get a seat at the request of engine manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. Nico Hulkenberg was a free agent with upside thanks to his pole for Williams at Brazil. And Vitantonio Liuzzi was under contract and threatening to sue if he wasn’t racing. The team paid off Liuzzi and went with Sutil and di Resta. I can’t imagine that drama helped team morale or productivity over the winter. Force India has always run better on low-downforce tracks so perhaps the draw of testing tracks has not shown their strengths. However, I’m not convinced that this team hasn’t settled back to Midland/Spyker levels of performance.

Teams