Force India get its third double finish this season

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, Sep 8 (UNI) Yet to see itself in the points tally, Force India Formula One team made its third finish this season as Adrian Sutil finished 13th and Giancarlo Fisichella at 17th after racing strongly during the rain-hit final stages at the Belgian Grand Prix here.

Sutil had a good start to move up two places from his starting position until a spin on lap seven put him back to the rear of the field yesterday.

The German, who earned a reputation as a wet-weather specialist after his giant-killing Monaco drive earlier this year, bettered his times every lap and graduated to 17th by his first stop on lap 17.

A close battle with Jenson Button of Honda then ensued as Sutil made up 16 seconds in 12 laps until the heavy rain fell in the closing laps.

With just three laps to go Adrian chose to stay on the dry tyres driver and profited from the chaotic closing laps to end the race in 13th position ahead of drivers including Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Honda's Jenson Button.

Meanwhile, Fisichella's race was wrecked when Williams's Kazuki Nakajima spun into him in the opening lap, forcing the Italian to pit for a new front wing.

Once he resumed the race, the Italian came out just in front of the leaders and was subject to blue flags thereon in.

Fisichella pushed hard to close the gap to the pack and took full advantage of the wet conditions and regained one of his lost laps to finish the race at the 17th position.

Satisfied with the team's effort, Sutil described said he was was happy with the way he performed in the tough wet conditions.

''It was a strong race for us, with a good performance,'' he said.

''We had quite a lot of fights on the circuit and lots of overtaking.

''I caught up with Button and was right behind him, but then there was the rain in the last laps.

''As there were just a couple of laps left and we were quite quick on the wet conditions with dry tyres, we stayed out and I could pass him and some other guys,'' Sutil said adding, ''I am quite happy with this race.'' Fisichella admitted that it was an uphill struggle for him after he was forced to pit for repairs at the end of the first lap following a collision with Nakajima.

''Unfortunately Nakajima spun and came across in front of my car and I broke the front wing and damaged the car quite a lot,'' Fisichella said.

He said when he rejoined the race after the collisiion he had lost a lot of time as he had no front wing and punctured tyres.

''When I went out of the pit lane I was just in front of the leaders and then had blue flags at least 40 times.

''Towards the end of the race, looking at the weather I called the box and said I wanted to put on the rain tyres.

''It was the right choice but there were just two or three laps left and it would have been nice to have those conditions earlier, but I think considering the start the end result was not too bad,'' he added.

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