Force India had to pick its fights during the Japanese Grand Prix to ensure it covered any threat from main rival Williams, says Bob Fernley.
Both Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg made good starts at Suzuka, with Perez running third on the opening lap - ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo - and Hulkenberg sixth with Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton directly behind him. However, both drivers steadily slipped back during the race rather than getting too involved battling with faster cars behind, eventually finishing seventh and eighth ahead of the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.
The end result saw Force India extend its lead in the constructors’ championship to ten points over fifth-placed Williams and Fernley says the team had to remain focused on the bigger picture throughout the race.
“It was a very good result, and very pleasing because I think it was a really strong weekend for Force India,” Fernley told F1i. “We delivered almost optimum qualifying and optimum in the race and that’s it, you can’t complain.
“Both of the drivers had super starts and we were racing people that perhaps we didn’t need to race. It was important that we pulled the strategy off and delivered two stops very competitively.”
Asked if the drivers had to take into account the fight with Williams when defending against the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, Fernley replied: “100%.
“Our race is with Williams, it’s not with any other teams. Also we were very mindful of the fact that Williams might try to pull off the one-stop which is of course what they did.”
However, Fernley says the 40 second gap between the two teams is not representative as Williams was gambling with its strategy to try and beat Force India.
“I think that Williams had to throw the dice a little bit because we had the better pace throughout the weekend. When you throw the dice it’s dependent on external circumstances coming to your aid and those didn’t happen this time for Williams whereas in Malaysia they did. So they benefitted in Malaysia with Virtual Safety Cars whereas in Suzuka it was a clean race.”
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