The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team was been awarded its first-ever World Championship point after the FIA Stewards of the Meeting decided that Toro Rosso’s Vitantonio Liuzzi had overtaken Adrian Sutil under a yellow flag on lap 55 in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji circuit. Liuzzi was handed a 25 second penalty, which promoted Sutil to eighth overall, the final points scoring position. This one point is both Adrian and the team’s first points in the FIA Formula One World Championship and lifts Spyker to 9th overall in the constructors’ championship.

With this point under its belt Spyker has posted a small footnote in motor racing history, as it has scored its very first point powered by a Ferrari engine. The Dutch owned team has used 2.4 V8 Ferrari engines since the start of this season.

Sutil again drove a highly impressive race to scythe through the field from 20th on the grid to 9th at the chequered flag, passing racing veterans Barrichello, Trulli and Button on his way. After a long battle with Liuzzi, in which the pair traded positions several times, he was unable to keep the advantage to the line. However following the Stewards' decision he score his and the team’s first points. Sakon Yamamoto had a very successful home Grand Prix, finishing as the highest classified Japanese driver in 12th position.

The 67-lap race got underway behind the safety car as torrential rain soaked the 4.5km Fuji Speedway. Sakon took advantage of the lengthy safety car period to pit for a maximum level of fuel and tyres on lap 13 and was able to capitalise and move up the order when racing began at the end of lap 19. The 25-year-old Japanese driver was up to 11th before his second stop.
 

And demonstrating a cool composure in only his fifth race for the team, fought back up the order to claim a comfortable 12th position, 12 secs ahead of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli. Adrian’s one and only pit stop unfortunately then coincided with a second safety car period caused by an accident for Alonso. The delay dropped him down to the tail end of the field, but he was able to use his knowledge of the Fuji Speedway to move into 9th by the end of the race. Although missing scoring a point was ultimately a disappointment after such a tough race, the top ten finish is nevertheless the team’s highest finish to date.

Adrian Sutil: ‘For sure I think we deserved this point after all the hard work this year and we finally got it. It is a great feeling, even if we didn’t get it on the track. I think it was the right decision, there was no green flag after this yellow flag from turn one, so we were definitely right and that is why we got this point.’

Colin Kolles: ‘We had clear evidence that Liuzzi passed Adrian under yellow flags and I am pleased that the Stewards of the Meeting agreed. The decision, which has ultimately given us our first-ever point, is a just reward for Adrian, who drove an excellent race today. It is also a well-deserved boost for all the team’s hard work this year. Now we have this milestone ticked off, we can now focus on on moving forward and being in the points a more regular basis. We’re all looking forward to China now.’