Force India
Nico Hulkenberg
“It was a pretty standard Friday, even though we had gale-strength winds in the afternoon that really made the conditions difficult out there. The times don’t tell the whole story, as we didn’t run the soft tyres in the afternoon and so our final positions don’t look that good. Across the two sessions, we ran all three compounds, although there is not a huge difference in feeling between them. We have a few areas to improve, but in general I am quite happy with the balance of the car. It will be important to find a way to reduce the effects of the wind on the car and hopefully we’ll find a bit more performance for tomorrow.”
Sergio Perez
“It was a very intense day and we now have plenty of information for the team to go through. We have some important decisions to make, in particular for Sunday’s race, but I think we have learned enough to make the right calls. We were able to run on all tyre compounds and I feel we are in a good position for the weekend. We need to focus on our long run pace – that’s where we have a margin to improve and that’s the main area we will work on tonight.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
“The conditions out there were not the easiest, with very strong winds that could unsettle the car, especially through the high-speed corners. This morning we were able to evaluate the new parts we brought for the car, while the rest of the day’s work was focussed on preparing for the race. In any case, we only used the two harder compounds in the afternoon session. The drivers are reasonably happy with the baseline set-up and with the balance of the car. Of course, we had a wide range of parts to test on the car and slightly different programmes for the two drivers, so we will analyse all the data tonight to find the best way to move forward. Overall, we’re happy with how the day went, especially in these conditions, and we can be optimistic for tomorrow and Sunday.”
