What was clear from testing is that Force India seemed to be lacking pace and was probably at the back of the midfield. This is possibly because they diverted a lot of their efforts at the end of last year towards the VJM03 in an effort to hold onto 6th in the Constructors (which they failed to do anyway). It could also be because Force India lost a lot of key people last year. Meanwhile, Team Lotus started development very early for their 2011 car and the view from testing is that they are way ahead of Virgin and much closer to the midfield. Now Adrian Sutil has confirmed what we all expected: Force India is off the pace. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90026 This is a real shame for Di Resta because he won't have much of an opportunity to shine, unless he starts beating Sutil, which is unlikely. The impression I get is that Force India and Team Lotus are very closely matched in terms of pace and perhaps (if we assume that HRT and Virgin will be knocked out in Q1, with 3 knockout places left) we will see a big fight between Sutil, Di Resta, Trulli, and Kovalainen to get into Q2. Who do you think will have the faster car?
Team Lotus will be faster, they have a bigger determination, and with that alone I reckon they will rub FI into the ground this season.
I think FI pretty easily. They may be off the pace but I think theyre hiding a little bit (~0.3-0.4) Well I hope anyway.
I think Force India still have a bit on Lotus, but only a bit so Lotus may out qualify them from time to time. I really hope di Resta can make an impression this year so he gets the chance to stick around for another 10 seasons
We'd all like to see Team Lotus make it back to the front, but we all are anxiously awaiting to see just how good di Resta is, and I expect him to be better than most people believe him to be, as he will be a rookie to F1
In the latest Autosport they've predicted Lotus to be 9th, ahead of Toro Rosso. They also have Mercedes 6th (I think, I can't be arsed to go downstairs and get the magazine to check). It must have been written before Shcumi's quick laps.
it was testing, wel have to wait for the 1st race of the season, however im tiping toro rosso to do well, they have come up with a few inovative features, fair play to them.
I agree on both points, there are way too much people taking testing times seriously (mainly Autosport), when even the drivers have reassured ans that testing times don't mean much towards each other, only for themselves. And yes, I think Toro Rosso could be the surprise of 2011. I think Buemi and Alguersuari are capable of scoring regular points given the car, especially Alguersuari
This pretty much sums my thoughts up too. I'd really like Lotus to be a surprise package this season, and be quite competitive, but realistically I can't imagine it'll happen. Toro Rosso to surprise, as others were saying, might be more realistic.
