Singapore GP - Friday Practice - Force India Drivers quotes

Nico Hulkenberg, P1 - 1:51.604, 12th; P2 - 1:48.751, 9th
"Completing all these laps with no major issues and ticking all the boxes in our schedule was a good starting point. It was a regular Friday, from that point of view, even if I am not totally comfortable with the car just yet. We have a bit of work ahead of us, trying to understand the car a bit better and fine tuning its balance ahead of qualifying. Tomorrow will be about getting some more performance out of the car."

Sergio Perez, P1 - 1:51.131, 10th; P2 - 1:48.653, 8th
"We had a good day in which we managed to complete our programme. The first indications show that it will likely be a very close battle in qualifying; we need to keep working to find another couple of tenths because a good starting position will play a big part in the race. On Sunday it will be a matter of getting the strategy right and looking after the tyres. We ran on both compounds today and were able to assess their performance, but we know the heat will play a big role so being gentle on tyres will be a priority."

Vijay Mallya, team principal and managing director
"We had a lot of work to get through today, which included evaluating some aero parts that we hope to race with on Sunday. The programmes went smoothly and we will review all the data and decide how we want to proceed for the rest of the weekend. We also worked to assess our cooling requirements for the race: the heat always plays a big role here and I am satisfied with the work we have done. Both Nico and Checo are happy with the way the day progressed and we are looking forward to the qualifying battle tomorrow."

Formula1.com 
 

Singapore GP - Force India Driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg
2013 Qualifying - 11th, 2013 Race - 9th
"The last race in Italy was disappointing for me. After the race the team found some damage to the floor, which is why we had the balance problems. It made the car difficult to drive. I'm confident things will be better in Singapore and I will be fighting hard to get a good result. It's definitely a tough race. It's hot and humid, and the race usually runs close to two hours, so physically it's probably the most difficult race of the year. It's mentally tough, too, because street circuits are more unforgiving. The walls are close and you have to get close to them if you want to be quick. The other challenge is to get your sleep pattern sorted at the start of the week."

Sergio Perez
2013 Qualifying - 14th, 2013 Race - 8th
"The result in Monza was an important boost for everyone in the team. It shows that we will continue to fight hard for every point until the end of the season. The battle with Jenson was very clean. Neither of us wanted to give up and it got very close at times, but I knew it was crucial to stay ahead. I enjoy the track and I've always scored points in Singapore so I will try to keep up my record. I think we can be quick. There are a lot of slow corners and that usually works well for our car. I've always liked street circuits so it's up there as one of my favourites. It's a very demanding race and usually quite unpredictable. You have to use the kerbs and attack the corners, which suits my driving style."

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
"I'm cautiously optimistic. This year we've delivered a car that has worked on all tracks so we don't have any concerns about Singapore. The warm temperatures and softer tyre compounds should also work in our favour. We've been working hard to bring some performance to the car as well, which should help us for the rest of the season. We are enjoying the fight and the close competition. Fifth place is just one point away so there is all to play for. For a team like ours to be where we are, fighting with teams that have won races and championships, shows how far we have come. I'm very proud."

Formula1.com 
 

Italian GP - Race - Force India driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg, 12th
"It wasn't a very busy race for me. I was racing alone most of the time and just doing my own race: not being towed around or benefiting from DRS made it a bit harder. I had a very good start, especially considering I was on the hard tyre, but I lost contact with the cars ahead of me quite soon because they were on the medium and I didn't really have the same pace. It was quite difficult to manage the car, especially the rear end: I had some oversteering and it was tricky to drive. I pitted quite early as I wasn't going anywhere on my hard tyres and we saw a good opportunity to jump people, but we still found it difficult to deal with the balance. We need to look ahead now to Singapore and work to bring more performance to the car. Singapore is a track we all enjoy: everything - the track, the atmosphere, the setup - is special."

Sergio Perez, 7th
"The race was a lot of fun. We were always fighting somebody and always pushing hard. It was great racing and it's good to score important points for the championship. The most important part of the race was the fight I had with Jenson, which was really nice and reminded me of the old days. I know he is a driver that you can fight really hard and it's always clean. At the end of the race with Kevin, I knew he had a penalty and there was no need to attack him. It meant I could focus on keeping Jenson behind me, which was not easy."

Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
"Six points keeps us where we need to be in our close championship battle with just a single point separating us from fifth place. Sergio was mighty today, showing once again how well he can race with some brilliant overtaking and defending. Nico made a great start, but he has not been completely comfortable with the car balance all weekend and especially in the race today. Despite his very strong start, points were out of reach. With six races remaining this season, I still believe we have all to play for and that we must keep pushing hard"

F1.com 
 

Italian GP - Qualification - Force India Driver quotes

Sergio Perez (10th, Q3 - 1:25.944)
“We can be happy about this result: P9 could have been possible, perhaps, but I feel we nearly maximised our potential and that's all we could have asked from this session. Looking at our performance yesterday, our race pace should be strong, but there are not that many options to choose from with the strategy. I feel we are in a good position to have a strong race tomorrow. Anything can happen on this track and I am confident we can pick up good points.”

Nico Hulkenberg (14th, Q2 - 1:26.279)
“My position today could have been better, but my final lap in Q2 was not on the pace. The main issue was the heavy traffic on my out lap going into the final corner, which really hurt my preparation. Everybody was backing up so I had to slow down and lost tyre temperature and pressure, and could not improve my time. Also, my first run in Q2 was not quite strong enough so we missed out on Q3. It was just a struggle today and the car has been feeling a bit loose. However, we can still race well. If I can make a good start and gain some positions on the first lap, we have every possibility of scoring some points.”

Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
“Tenth place for Checo is about what we were expecting today. It was a good effort considering the hydraulic issue we had during final practice, which cost Checo half an hour of track time this morning. With Nico we expected a bit more, but he didn’t hook up a clean lap when it mattered and that puts him right in the middle of the pack. It’s always tough to overtake at Monza, so we have our work cut out tomorrow. On the other hand we were encouraged by our long-run pace during practice so I hope that we can show that tomorrow.”

F1.com 
 

Italian GP - Friday practice - Force India Driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg, P1 - 1:28.112, 10th; P2 - 1:27.227, 12th
"This morning was quite normal for a Friday, but the afternoon was a bit more difficult and it was not easy to find a nice rhythm. I just didn't find the balance and harmony I was looking for and that showed in the lap times. So we need to dig deep into the data and see what we can improve for tomorrow. Apart from that it was a successful day with the tyre work and collecting the long-run data."

Sergio Perez, P1 - 1:27.687, 8th; P2 - 1:27.079, 11th
"Today was a promising start for our weekend and we managed to do everything we had planned. We have good pace already, especially during the long runs, where we look competitive. Now it's just a matter of getting everything right and having a good qualifying position tomorrow to make the most of our strengths."

Daniel Juncadella, P1 - 1:29.192, 17th
"I'm always happy to drive the car whenever there is an opportunity, but obviously my programme was very short today - just 30 minutes and one set of hard tyres. It was a chance for me to experience the car in the low downforce set-up, which actually felt better than I was expecting. The main job was to check the baseline set-up and make sure there was nothing major to change before Checo took over. After my install lap I also did some practice starts to give the team information on the clutch settings."

Otmar Szafnaeur, Force India chief operating officer
"We had all three drivers in action today with Daniel spending the opening 30 minutes of free practice in Checo's car. Considering the tight schedule, he did an excellent job of evaluating the set-up and completing the systems checks. His feedback and direction helped Sergio for the rest of the session. The remainder of the day was fairly straightforward for Nico and Checo, and we head into the weekend having done most of our homework in terms of data collection. The pace looks promising and with some more tweaks tonight we should be in good shape going into qualifying."

F1.com 

Italian GP - Force India Driver Preview quotes

Nico Hulkenberg
2013 Qualifying - 3rd, 2013 Race - 5th
"It's a fantastic weekend and I really enjoy everything about the event: the town, the people and the track. The atmosphere is just brilliant with the energy of the fans and the history of the place. It's also a fun track to drive. It looks simple, but hooking up a quick lap is still a challenge and it's easy to make mistakes. I expect us to be quite competitive there - it should be better for us than Spa. It's all about power and top speed and we know the engine will be strong. We also have a new low downforce rear wing that we will use for Monza only. Braking from top speed for the chicanes with a skinny rear wing is always tricky."

Sergio Perez
2013 Qualifying - 8th, 2013 Race - 12th
"[Monza] is another favourite of mine. I think everybody enjoys going there because it's such a beautiful location. I raced there a few times before Formula One and always had good results. I was on the podium two years ago [finishing second] – it was one of my best races in Formula One and a very special memory. I think it's going to be a good track for us. It's important to qualify in the top ten to have a chance of scoring good points. It's difficult to overtake at Monza and if you are out of position it's hard to recover."

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
"It was promising to return after the summer break with some points, although fewer than we would have probably deserved based on our pace. Both Checo and Nico showed a lot of fighting spirit to make up several positions from their grid slots and we were able to get five points as a reward. We could have possibly been a few more places ahead had we not started so far back. We're now sixth in the standings and coming away from Spa we are only two points away from fifth place with all to play for in the coming races. The Italian Grand Prix is always a great event and this circuit is legendary. It is also one that should suit our car, with long straights and an emphasis on power. Both Checo and Nico have had good results here in the past and will hopefully do the same this year."

F1.com 
 

Belgium GP - Race- Force India Driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg, 11th
"It's a shame to miss out on points today but I guess I paid the price for the mistakes yesterday [in qualifying] which gave us so much ground to recover in the race. My start was not great, but I was able to gain a few positions on the first lap. After that I had good pace, but it was hard to show it because I was stuck in heavy traffic. There was a train of cars in the midfield with everybody using DRS and making it very difficult to overtake. I think that's where we lost the most time today and it stopped me from scoring points. I was closing quickly on Kvyat at the end and I was very close, but I probably needed an extra lap to be able to get ahead."

Sergio Perez, 9th
"Somehow I avoided all the crazy battles that took place today because my race was quite straightforward. I went flat out and I think we achieved the most that was possible from the race. I lost a bit of time in the second stint, having to pass the two McLarens and I took a bit too much out of the tyres, which cost me some time later in the stint. In the final ten laps I was under a lot of pressure from Kvyat: he was catching me quickly, but I managed to hold him off. In the end, we got some points out of this weekend and that's the important thing."

Robert Fernley, Force India deputy team principal
"Considering the issues we had in qualifying yesterday, it's good to see the team recover some ground today and score points. The two-stop races for Sergio and Nico went to plan, without any significant issues, but starting outside the top ten meant we were always going to face an uphill struggle this afternoon. Both drivers were caught in the midfield train of traffic and that made it difficult to demonstrate our true race pace, especially early on. Sergio drove a very mature race and picked up a couple of points, while Nico came close to claiming the final point. We remain in a strong position in the championship and hopefully Monza will give us a better opportunity to show our potential and get both cars in the points."

Formula1.com