(Sahara Force India Formula One Team)
The Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s Nico Hulkenberg
and Sergio ‘Checco’ Perez secured their best qualifying positions of the season
today ahead of tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix night race where last season
Sergio Perez secured a podium finish when he ended the race in third place.
Nico Hulkenberg will start tomorrow’s race from inside the top ten in eighth
place.
Speaking following the session Hulkenberg stated:
‘P8 – I’m happy with that. I think we extracted
the most we could from the car today. Overnight we made some good tweaks to the
set-up and that helped, especially in these slightly cooler temperatures. It
was quite windy, but it didn’t impact on us too badly and all of my laps were pretty
good. Points will be the goal tomorrow, but it won’t be easy because there are
a lot of quick cars behind us and they will put pressure on us. We need to make
the best of the car we have and hopefully come away with a good result. Bahrain
always produces good racing with the DRS zones and tyre degradation will be an
important factor in the ace. Whatever happens, we are ready for the fight.’
Sergio ‘Checco’ Perez was unfortunate to just miss out on a
place in the top ten shoot out and will start the race from 11th on
the grid. Speaking following the session the Mexican stated:
‘Even though I’m frustrated at missing out on Q3
by just a few hundredths of a second, I think we can be satisfied about the big
step forward today. It would have been an amazing result to have both cars in
the top ten, but eleventh on the grid is something we can be happy about and
it’s the result of a massive effort by everyone in the team. Today both our car
and the track characteristics played into our hands, possibly more than we were
anticipating. This result is also a matter of learning the best way to set up
this car. The sixth row is a good place to start and I’m optimistic about
getting some good points tomorrow. We have shown to be pretty good around here:
we had strong pace during our longer runs yesterday and this should give us a
chance of a strong result.’
The Silverstone based outfit have a major upgrade package
which should be introduced ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix as there will be an
in season test following the race at the Red Bull Ring. Speaking ahead of
Sunday’s race, Sahara Force India Formula One deputy Team Principal Robert
Fernley commented by saying:
‘Today's qualifying result is a very positive step
in the right direction. It was encouraging to see us nearly placing two cars in
the top ten and, even though we just missed out with Sergio, we can be proud of
this effort: the drivers extracted everything that the car could offer and they
put together some excellent laps. We must not get carried away as we know that
our car is particularly suited to this track, but we are confident for
tomorrow. Starting in P8 and P11 gives us a good shot at scoring points, so it
will be important to do a good job tonight and be prepared for tomorrow's race.
Our pace looked solid in practice and we will need to ensure our strategy gives
us the opportunity to make the best of it: the midfield is very competitive so
it won't be an easy job, but we're ready for it.’
© Ben Johnston 2015
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