18 Mar 2013

The first race of the season is always something unique. As we mentioned before on these pages, you get to see the fruits of the work you have done over the winter; you see where your rivals stand; and you generally set the tone for the year to come.

As we watched the Australian Grand Prix unfold in front of our eyes and saw Adrian Sutil lead the race for 11 laps, with Paul Di Resta also running strongly, we knew it was going to be a special start of the season. Both drivers showed maturity, the team worked well with pit stops and the strategists made the right calls – a great effort to start the Championship.

And yet, someone could argue, should we be disappointed or heartbroken to see a very good placement, with Adrian just out of the podium until the closing stages of the race, slip from our fingers with just a few laps to go? No, we shouldn’t really.

Of course everyone would have wanted to see the supersoft tyres mounted on Adrian’s car last a dozen more laps and our driver fend off the attacks of Hamilton and Webber. We would have loved to celebrate such a big result, but it was not meant to be. But disappointment and the feeling of an opportunity lost only occur when you know you are in a certain position because of one-off circumstances out of your control. When it’s a fluke. You are up there, you lose it, and you know it is your one and only chance gone.

This was not the case today. Adrian and Paul had brilliant races on merit – theirs and the team’s. To see Adrian pull away from Sebastian Vettel – a triple World Champion – when in the lead, to see Paul qualify in the top ten – those things tell us we have a great car to work with for 2013. Our VJM06 will continue our proud tradition of punching well above our weight, and in Paul and Adrian we have the best men to make the most of the opportunity the team has in this 2013 season. Today was not a fluke – it was a sign of things to come.

That’s exactly why we are not heartbroken at losing those important positions at the very end of the race. Tyres falling off a cliff have done it to other drivers in the past – remember Raikkonen in China or Alonso in Canada last year? - but we know we have the car, drivers and team to be able to fight with the leaders on more than just one occasion. And fight we will.

We will be looking to build momentum straight from next week, when we get to Malaysia. The Sepang International Circuit has been a good place to us in the last few seasons, and we had a double points finish with Paul and Nico Hülkenberg last year. The conditions we expect should help us take the best out of the VJM06, and everyone in the team is buzzing about the next race. We want to go out and show the world the Sahara Force India team will be there, or thereabout, all season.

This excitement is just what we need at this stage of the season. Back-to-back races are a huge challenge for everyone in the team – mechanics, drivers, all personnel who are on the road for weeks on end – and doing so in high spirits makes every workload feel lighter.

In Melbourne, the Formula One world got just a little taster of what we are going to deliver this year. We head to Sepang to deliver again. It’s time for everyone to Feel the Force.

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Latest Comment

Surely it provided a great launch for this season. Should carry on the momentum for the remaining season. Expect top 5 constructor(capitalizing on Mclaren's woes)finish this season as 2014 is going to be unpredictable due to new regulations.

VenkatChowdary 06:08 PM on March 21, 2013

Gary Anderson BBC F1 technical analyst first impression about our car during its launch: "The team have tidied the car up a lot. They've done a lot of work on suspension mechanisms to try and make the tyres perform both consistently and for longer. proved true in the first race :-) Source :http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/21291945

Christopher 03:20 PM on March 19, 2013

Great work by team. It was a delight to watch SFI leading the race that too consecutively for hardcore fans like us. I have seen the races when we get pretty agitated bcoz a point finish snatched away from us. Now we are there fighting for podiums and higher position. We should have a podium finish at least this year, Last year luck was not on our side. This year podium finishes from both driver will make me happy. Very Very happy. People will Feel the Force then

Krishnan Ganesh 01:56 PM on March 19, 2013

Force seems to be in great, so feel it will be in podium in next race good luck..sutil and paul..

Lokesh Bhujanga Gatty 11:16 AM on March 19, 2013

its good to see you guys competing with champion teams and also leading the race. but stay there, dont loose focus at all, other teams(mclaren) with be back with gr8 force, we need to improve alot.. target podium in evry race, we got the pace and we will deliver it this time.

राहुल तिवारी 08:18 PM on March 18, 2013

Its a great win that shows the character of the team and the ability of the machine . Team deserved a win but still we can be happy that we have started with a bang . I dont want to see a Vettel show once again ... 4th consecutive title for him means Formula 1 is loosing its sport-value with a strong team always winning the title . Racing is driver based sport so SFI getting into the title race would mean there would be 6 or 7 teams for championship and 14 drivers (I am counting in Sauber's)

Sachin Francis 07:01 PM on March 18, 2013

brilliant article. roll on malaysia.

Mallikarjuna Cse 05:12 PM on March 18, 2013

I am absolutely loving these blogs. They provide me with many of the answers i am looking for. We the fans are as much excited, if not more, with the excellent start the team has provided us. And its good to know that the team is confident that the result in melbourne will not be a one off. Cant wait for Malaysia. Feel the Force!!

Sumit Chawla 03:28 PM on March 18, 2013

Its an awsme race u guys hav realy worked hard and given us chance to see sutil leading the race...and hope v all vill c SFI in the podium...Keep up the gud wrk team....congrats for a good result from first race...C u at Next week..cheers..

Saurabh Birthalia 03:09 PM on March 18, 2013

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