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“I’m really happy,” enthused Sutil afterwards, “for sure one of F1’s happiest guys today! It’s my home race and my best qualifying position so far in F1, so it was a great qualifying for us. It was very tricky with the weather, but our decisions were very good and on-time, particularly in Q2 with the rain. We took a risk on dry tyres and we did it a lap earlier than all the others and got the third-fastest time.

“Finally, even with the fuel on-board, Q3 went really well and we got into seventh. I am very happy for everyone in the team. We’ve worked really hard in the last months. Now we just have to score some points!”

“First of all, I am very pleased for the team and for Adrian to have had such a great qualifying,” added Fisichella. “It was an incredible result, and hopefully we’ll be able to have a good race tomorrow. For me it was a bit disappointing. We went out early in the first session, but unfortunately I got caught in traffic on both of my fastest laps. It was a real shame as with the weather conditions I think we could have done really well, but it could be mixed weather tomorrow so you never know what’s possible.”

Having entered the weekend aiming to build on the encouraging form witnessed last time out at Silverstone with another Q2 appearance, team chairman Vijay Mallya admitted that he had never even dared dream about getting into Q3 – but like Sutil, the Kingfisher Airlines billionaire affirmed that points are now overdue, after Force India arguably deserved to score in China, Monaco and Britain already this year only to come away cruelly empty-handed on each occasion.

“Needless to say, I am absolutely delighted with the team’s performance today,” Mallya underlined. “We came to Germany hoping to get to Q2, and we got to Q3 thanks to a superb team performance and a stunning session from Adrian. To do so on his home soil will no doubt make it extra-special for him. We are now in a good position for tomorrow’s race, and I hope we can finally get those much longed-for points.”

“P7 after Q3 for Adrian was a fantastic performance and a reward for the team’s efforts recently,” agreed chief race engineer Dominic Harlow. “The weather played its part, but he secured the position on merit. It was an exciting session, and I think that we got the calls right today.

“Giancarlo was unfortunate in that his second outing in Q1 was affected by traffic with so many cars on the circuit, and with things being so tight he didn’t make the cut. Otherwise I’m sure that he too could have progressed to a strong qualifying position. Our goal of course has to be putting those first points on the board in the race.”