Force India cover 89 lap's on Friday

(Sahara Force India Formula One Team)

 

Sahara Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez completed a combined total of 89 laps on Friday as on track action got underway at the Sakhir circuit ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, round three of the 2014 Formula One season.

 

Despite completing on ten lap's this morning, Nico Hulkenberg was extremely impressive for the Silverstone based team as he set the fourth fastest time of the morning with a 1m 38.122s which was a fantastic result considering the German's lack of running. He made up for the lost time in the second practice as he completed 18 laps and ended the day 13th with a 1m 35.998s.

 

Speaking after the session, Hulkenberg said:

 

'It was quite a good day for us; we did not do a lot of running but when we were out on track the running we did was quite good. First practice was not that representative because the race will be held at a completely different time of the day and with very different conditions, but the second session was a more realistic. We did some quality running in this session and we looked okay. I felt quite comfortable in the car and we just need to do some tweaks to the set-up tonight. I think we have a good starting point for the rest of the weekend'

 

Meanwhile on the other side of the Force India, Sergio Perez ended this morning's first session in 9th place on his way to completing 21 lap's. The Mexican fastest lap was a 1m 39.102s. In the second practice session which took place under lights Perez ended up in 10th place with a fastest time of 1m 35.802  which is a big boost for the Silverstone squad who have had a great start to their 2014 campaign. Perez completed a total of 40 lap's during second practice and following the session he said:

 

'Today was positive; we managed to complete our programme and we're quite happy with the car, especially on the prime tyre. I was able to complete some long runs and that will give us plenty to analyse tonight. The track temperature and conditions change a lot between the late afternoon and the evening, and it's something we were expecting. We will keep working to improve the car for tomorrow, but we can be satisfied with the amount and quality of work done today.'

 

The team head in to the weekend's action hoping another strong result. They are currently 5th in the Constructors standing's just one point behind Williams Martini Racing.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014

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