Force India's Adrian Sutil qualifies 8th for Monaco Grand Prix
Sutil drove his VJM06 car to best lap time of 1 min 15.383 seconds to finish eighth in the final qualifying session.
Force India's Adrian Sutil will start Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix from the eighth position on the grid, while teammate Paul di Resta will take the 17th slot here on Sunday.
Sutil drove his VJM06 car to best lap time of 1 minute 15.383 seconds to finish eighth in the final qualifying session. Also read: Nico Rosberg takes pole position
The top-10 grid position gives the German driver a chance to earn some points for the team at Circuit de Monaco.
Di Resta was unlucky because of an apparent team error as the Scot found himself on the wrong tyres, and was the first driver to fail to make it through to Q2.
Sutil said selection of tyres played an important role as the circuit was wet and seemed upbeat about a podium finish. In pictures: A rain-hit qualifying
"Very tricky conditions today with the track half wet and half dry. We never knew if it was really drying out or if more rain was coming, so it was important to be on the right tyres at the right time. The team did an excellent job of choosing the tyres and making the correct decisions," Sutil said.
"Tomorrow I will be pushing hard to move forward. A podium is my target and there are seven cars ahead of me, so with a good strategy anything is possible. I just have to concentrate and make the most of this opportunity," he said.
Di Resta, on the other hand, was disappointed with his effort.
"We failed to deliver today, which is a real shame because we were very strong in the wet and this is the most crucial qualifying session of the year. The intermediate tyres were working fine for me, but we didn't read the conditions well enough from the pit wall," Di Resta said.
"I needed a set of fresh intermediates towards the end of the session, but by the time we realised it was too late and there was no time to pit. The only option was to stay out, but my tyres were finished and I didn't have a chance to progress any further. It's a painful position to be starting from tomorrow given the speed we had in the car today," he added.