Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley says his team was “very aggressive” during the Russian Grand Prix, allowing it to pull off “something a bit special” as Sergio Perez finished third.
Perez appeared to have lost out on a podium finish when he was overtaken by Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen at the end of the penultimate lap, but contact between the two Finns then saw him regain third place. With Perez having secured his second podium since joining Force India, Fernley told F1i the team deserves a lot of the praise after pitting during an early safety car period.
“Credit to the pit wall, they pulled off a very aggressive strategy, and credit to Checo for delivering it - it wasn’t easy,” Fernley said. “I think the key was the strategy because obviously we took a very aggressive position. I’m surprised that others in front of us didn’t take a similar position to us but it opened the door for us and obviously we grabbed it with both hands.
“I don’t think [Williams and Ferrari] underestimated us, I think they were probably a little bit too conservative. In some ways we had nothing to lose, they had more, so I think they tended to be a bit more conservative in the approach. For us, we felt that if worst came to worst and we did drop off in the end than if we’d stayed with a conservative strategy whereas the opportunity to do something a bit special was there.”
With Nico Hulkenberg crashing out on the opening lap, Fernley admits the team is frustrated at securing strong results with one car rather than two on a number of occasions this year.
“There is some frustration in that, there’s no question, because it would be nice to have them both coming home. We qualified so well, it was just a shame Nico had his lap one incident.
“I think the tyres were a bit cold, he locked up the rears and it was just too far gone for him to pull it back.”
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AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix
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