Di Resta to Replace Sutil in Australian GP Practice

Paul di Resta is understood to finally debut on the VJM03 two weekends from now, in the practice session of the 2010 Australian Grand Prix. The 23-year old Brit, who is currently preparing for another campaign with AMG Mercedes-Benz in the DTM, will likely take Adrian Sutil's car for the 2 practice sessions scheduled on the Friday before the Aussie race.

As confirmed by the Force India officials when initially signing Di Resta, the DTM driver will get plenty of chances to drive the VJM03 this season, mostly during the weekends that don't interfere with his programme inside the German series. And, since the DTM opener in Hockenheim starts off in late April, the Force India reserve driver has the time to focus on his role within the Silverstone based team.

Di Resta was also in the Force India garage during the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, where he got familiar with how an F1 operation is being run during GP weekends.

“It's been new. I've only ever come to races as a spectator and not been involved with the team. I was involved in a lot of team meetings, watching how the formula one environment works and watching how the team operates on a race weekend and also taking part in as much as possible to try and build up a relationship with the team for the future,” said Di Resta.

Since the Bahrain GP presented the team with a different layout as compared to the ones in testing, Force India decided to give both its drivers – Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi – the chance to get more familiar with the track on Friday. It was the reason why Di Resta wasn't given some Friday time in the VJM03 cockpit.

In Australia, he will likely replace Sutil on Friday, while scheduled to drive Liuzzi's car a week later, in Malaysia.