Di Resta steals 10thposted in F118 | 03 | 2012
SCOTLAND'S PAUL DI RESTA got his new Formula One campaign off to a positive start when he grabbed the final world championship point after a thrilling last-gasp dash to the line.
The 25-year-old from Bathgate, who started from 15th on the grid, dropped to 17th as the cars careered into the first right-hander at the start of the race.
Di Resta's race was further compromised when he had to slow down dramatically, and take to the grass, to avoid the stricken Williams of Bruno Senna which had spun into the middle of the track.
"Not the ideal start to the race, but from there it was a case of gathering everything back together and sticking to our race plan."
Di Resta had fought his way through to 10th before his first scheduled pitstop on lap 14: he rejoined back in 15th.
A solid stint, which saw him overtake the Ferrari of Felipe Massa for 10th on lap 29, ended when he pitted on lap 34 from ninth position.
Three laps later the Safety Car was deployed after Vitaly Petrov stopped his stricken Caterham on the start-finish straight.
But when the race restarted, Di Resta's Sahara Force India struggled for pace as his tyres lost grip in the cool early evening conditions.
See more photos of Paul di Resta in action today in Australia
Entering the final lap, Di Resta was a distant 13th, but at the end of the 3.3-mile Albert Park circuit the Scot had dramatically stolen 10th place.
First Pastor Maldonado, lying sixth, crashed his Williams heavily. Then Nico Rosberg's Mercedes suffered a puncture when his car was clipped at the rear by the Sauber of Sergio Perez. The incident robbed Rosberg of a possible seventh place.
All of this allowed Di Resta to close up on the back of the pack containing the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen, Perez, and the two Toro Rosso cars of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne in ninth and 10th.
While Raikkonen and Perez held on to finish seventh and eighth respectively, Di Resta got more drive out of the final corner and outsprinted Vergne pipping him by a car's length as they crossed the finish line.
Jenson Button dominates Down Under
"That was tight," Di Resta admitted afterwards. "It’s always nice to start the season with a point, but it was not looking too promising until the last few laps when my engineer told me that I was catching the cars ahead of me.
"Fortunately I had saved quite a bit of KERS for the last corner, which helped me get a good run on Vergne and beat him to the line for 10th. So it was a pretty exciting final lap.
"It’s a good way to start the season, but it’s clear we have a lot of work to do because we were struggling for pace at the start of each stint, which hurt my overall race pace.
"Even so, considering where I started and the weekend we’ve had, I don’t think I can be disappointed to have come away with a point.”
Australian Grand Prix — Result (Provisional):
1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h34:09.565
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +2.139
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +4.075
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault +4.547
5. Alonso Ferrari +21.565
6. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +36.766
7. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +38.014
8. Perez Sauber-Ferrari +39.458
9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +39.556
10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +39.737
11. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +39.848
12. Rosberg Mercedes +57.642
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 lap
14. Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
15. Pic Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
16. Senna Williams-Renault +4 laps
Fastest lap: Button, 1min 29.187secs
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Jim McGill