Bathgate bullet Di Resta grabs point in Korea

Oct 20 2011 by Kieran Westbrook, West Lothian Courier

FORMULA One ace Paul Di Resta snatched a point following his 10th-place finish in the Korean Grand Prix.

The Bathgate racer started ninth on the grid ahead of team-mate Adrian Sutil who also finished the race one place behind Paul.

Di Resta was in a tight tussle with Sebastien Buemi late on as the two fought for ninth.

But Di Resta couldn’t hold off the Toro Rosso racer and finished just inside the points, in 10th.

He said: “It’s good to come away with a point, but ultimately we didn’t have the performance to match Toro Rosso today.

“It looked like we might be able to hold off Buemi in the final laps to stay ninth, but we came up six or seven laps too short with the tyres and I couldn’t hold him back.”

Di Resta was involved in the nail-biting battle towards the end of the race.

And he reckons a different tyre strategy could have led to another point on the board for his team.

He said: “In terms of tyres, we probably should have been a bit more aggressive with the strategy and used my new supersofts at the start of the race, rather than the used set, but I’m not sure it would have changed where we finished.

“Still, every point counts come the end of the year and we’ve managed to gain a point on Sauber, which is important.”

The result marks Paul’s sixth finish inside the points.

His best result remains the sixth-place finish in Singapore.

Sahara Force India, his team who were renamed last week, remain sixth in the Construction Championships on 49 points.

They lie 9 points ahead of Sauber and 23 points behind fifth spot holders Renault.

Sebastian Vettel sealed back-to-back Drivers Championship title wins in emphatic style.

The flying German only needed a single point to clinch the title as well as chasing Jenson Button needing to win.

But Vettel grabbed his 10th race victory of the season after starting second on the grid.

Di Resta crossed the finish line 68.6 seconds behind the German champion.

His next outing will be in the Indian Grand Prix from October 28 to 30.