Di Resta chuffed with 14thposted in F109 | 04 | 2011
BATHGATE'S PAUL DI RESTA admitted he'd exceeded his own expectations following another blistering Formula One qualifying session. The 24-year-old Scot starts tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix from 14th on the grid, three places ahead of his more experienced Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil.
"I'm very pleased with my performance today," Di Resta (pictured), who sat out the Friday morning practice session while Force India test driver Nico Hulkenberg used the car, admitted.
"Everyone in the team worked hard and delivered a good job today, and I have to admit I think my fastest lap of the day was a very good one."
With three minutes of Q2 remaining, the Scot delivered his best time of the session, a 1min 37.370secs, again highlighting he natural ability he has to adjust to new circuits and testing conditions — 72% humidity and a temperature of 30 degrees. Di Resta finished a comfortable 0.223s ahead of his German team-mate and lines up 14th, three places ahead of Sutil.
And Di Resta, who scored his first world championship point in his opening race in Melbourne a fortnight ago, believes both he and the team are not only making rapid progress but are set to add further improvements in the next few races.
"There's no denying we all feel we got more out of that qualifying session than we'd originally thought would be possible," the Scot, a global ambassador for Whyte & Mackay whisky, continued. "I think we have certainly closed the gap to the teams ahead of us.
"But tomorrow is going to be a long race, in tricky weather conditions — there's always the strong possibility of rain here which would mix things up a bit — but I'm certainly getting more excited now about our progress with regard to improving our performance in the future."
Malaysian Grand Prix — Qualifying:
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault — 1m34.870s;
2. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes — 1m34.974s + 0.104;
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault — 1m35.179s + 0.309;
4. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes — 1m35.200s + 0.330;
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari — 1m35.802s + 0.932;
6. Nick Heidfeld, Renault — 1m36.124s + 1.254;
7. Felipe Massa, Ferrari — 1m36.251s + 1.381;
8. Vitaly Petrov, Renault — 1m36.324s + 1.454;
9. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes — 1m36.809s + 1.939;
10. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber-Ferrari — 1m36.820s + 1.950.
Q2 cut-off time: 1m36.811s
11. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes — 1m37.035s + 1.466;
12. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari — 1m37.160s + 1.591;
13. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari — 1m37.347s + 1.778;
14. Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes — 1m37.370s + 1.801;
15. Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth — 1m37.496s + 1.927;
16. Sergio Perez, auber-Ferrari — 1m37.528s + 1.959;
17. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes — 1m37.593s + 2.024.
Q3 cut-off time: 1m38.163s
18. Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Cosworth — 1m38.276s + 1.532;
19. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Renault — 1m38.645s + 1.901;
20. Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Renault — 1m38.791s + 2.047;
21. Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth — 1m40.648s + 3.904;
22. Jerome D'Ambrosio, Virgin-Cosworth — 1m41.001s + 4.257;
23. Tonio Liuzzi, HRT-Cosworth — 1m41.549s + 4.805;
24. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT-Cosworth — 1m42.574s + 5.830.
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Jim McGill