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British GP: Sutil comes close to podium but finishes 7th, Paul 9th

Adrian Sutil Finished Seventh After Being In Contention For A Podium Finish Even As Paul Di Resta Fought His Way To Ninth After Starting Last On The Grid In The Incident-filled And Dramatic British Grand Prix On Sunday.

PTI | Updated on: 30 Jun 2013, 09:43:43 PM

Silverstone (UK):

Adrian Sutil finished seventh after being in contention for a podium finish even as Paul Di Resta fought his way to ninth after starting last on the grid in the incident-filled and dramatic British Grand Prix on Sunday.

Sutil was running third after beginning the race from sixth position but lost his way in the last six laps as Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton all passed him.

Nico Rosberg won the race, marked by several tyre failures, while Webber and Alonso joined him on the podium in the second and third position respectively.

Nevertheless, it was third consecutive double points finish for Sahara Force India (59) as it collected eight points to increase its lead over sixth-placed McLaren (37) by 12 points.

Di Resta, who had qualified impressive fifth, was forced to start last position after it was found that his car was underweight during Saturday's qualifying. The stewards though allowed him to compete from last on the grid.

Sutil moved up two places to fourth in the very first lap when he passed Daniel Ricciardo and Webber suffered a front wing damage to his Red Bull and was pushed back.

Disaster struck pole sitter Hamilton in the lap eight as his Mercedes' left rear tyre deflated in lap eight, ending his victory hopes in his home race.

As a result Sebastian Vettel was now leading the race and Sutil moved up to third.

In another dramatic development, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne's also suffered tyre failures, forcing deployment of safety car in lap 16.

Di Resta meanwhile had worked his way to 11th and Sutil was locked in a good battle with Alonso for third position.

In lap 34 both Force India drivers pitted. Sutil re-joined in seventh position and Di resta 14th.

With just 10 laps left in the race, Vettel, the race and the championship leader, had to park his Red Bull after suffering a gearbox failure.

Safety car was deployed again and with seven laps to go the race began with Sutil in third position. However, the star drivers showed their mettle as they passed the German one by one to push him to seventh.

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First Published : 30 Jun 2013, 09:23:00 PM

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