Hungary GP- Force India driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg (11th)
“A very difficult race, to be honest. I struggled a lot with the balance this afternoon and we just didn’t have good enough pace. The rear tyre degradation was also high and it wasn’t easy towards the end of the race. So with all things considered I think P11 was the maximum that was possible because we didn’t make any mistakes and the two-stop strategy was definitely the right decision. We were not far away from the points, but we still need to go away and analyse what happened so that we can improve in time for the next race.”

Paul di Resta (12th)
“I don’t think P12 is a fair reflection of the speed we had in the car today. My race was compromised by a poor start and I lost a few positions going into turn one. I had the same issue in Germany last week so we need to understand how we can improve that going forward because it’s hurting our track position. The first few laps were quite tough but the car came alive after lap four and brought me back into contention. Unfortunately it was impossible to maximise the speed of the car because there was no chance to overtake and once the pit stops were complete it was just a case of bringing the car home.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
“We’ve shown flashes of speed this weekend, but ultimately we haven’t been consistent enough to achieve our goal of finishing in the points. We didn’t qualify well enough and that hurt us this afternoon because there was little chance to progress on a track where overtaking is so difficult. There was no room to improvise with the strategy and our two-stop approach was definitely the right call considering the cars that we were racing against. We will take the positives from the last few days and try to understand where we can find more performance so that we can come back stronger after the summer break.”

Source: Formula1.com

Qualifying - Force India driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg (10th, Q3 - 1m 22.847s)
“I’m happy to be in the top ten but not satisfied with my quick lap in Q3. I tried too hard and made a mistake, got some dirt on my tyres and couldn’t recover the lap. It’s a bit frustrating because my laptime from Q2 would have been good enough for sixth on the grid. So I’m a bit disappointed, but at the same time I’m focussing on the positives because we looked competitive during the session. Now we need to do the same in the race and pick up points.”

Paul di Resta (12th, Q2 -1m 21.813s)
“I think there was more potential in the car today, but I couldn’t get the laptime when it counted during Q2. The main issue was trying to find track position and I had to push very hard on my out lap to make some space, which probably took too much out of the tyres. It’s a shame because we were very quick in Q1 and the car has been working well here. We can still have a good race, but it won’t be easy with the high temperatures and the fact that it’s never easy to overtake here.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
“We showed good pace today, but we didn’t quite maximise our performance when it mattered. Nico did a superb lap to make Q3, but a small error on his final quick lap cost him several positions on the grid. Paul has a similar situation in Q2 when the tyre performance dropped off at the end of the lap and he missed out on making the top ten. The good news is that we’ve shown that we have a quick car here in Budapest and hopefully we can demonstrate that again tomorrow when it really counts.”

Source: F1.com

Force India duo expect tough race

Force India pairing Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta believe that the team must be at the top of its game to score big points in this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

The duo finished ninth and 11th respectively in the German Grand Prix and both were a little disappointed with the dry-weather pace of the car after qualifying strongly in wet conditions.

The team currently lies eighth in the constructors' championship and is 34 points behind the sixth place that it would need to match last year's impressive campaign.

"It was OK, two points, but it was not a huge result like Valencia," Hulkenberg told AUTOSPORT. "We had a big result there, then Silverstone was difficult and Hockenheim as well.

"It's a little bit up and down and we need to try and keep it on a high. If we pull everything together, we can be in the points. But if not, we are going to be outside.

"We need 100 per cent on everything."

Hulkenberg admitted that he was disappointed to manage only ninth in Germany after starting fourth, but confessed that it did not come as a surprise given the pace of the car.

"Obviously, it was a good starting position and you always hope for the best, but it was a tough race with a lot of defending.

"The pace was quite good enough and the tyre wear was a bit higher. At the end of the day, that allows only a P9."

Team-mate di Resta, who started ninth and finished 11th in Germany, believes that the team needs to find more pace if it is to take the fight to the teams ahead of it, like Sauber.

"We're certainly not as quick as the Lotuses and the Saubers," di Resta told AUTOSPORT. "We need to be in front of them and they certainly had a lot more pace than we had [in Germany]."

Source: Autosport.com

Hulkenberg sees future at Force India

Nico Hulkenberg can see himself staying at Force India next season but says he has nothing sorted for 2013.

Hulkenberg joined the team as a test driver in 2011 after losing his seat at Williams and was promoted to race driver this year. Force India has not made any mention of its driver line-up for next year and in recent years has sorted it over the winter, but when asked, Hulkenberg said he was keen to stay.

"I'm happy here at Sahara Force India, I can see myself staying here," Hulkenberg told journalists on Thursday.

He has scored 19 points this year, with a best finish of fifth place at Valencia, and he feels he has made progress since the start of the European season in May.

"Since we've come to Europe I feel I've been getting better and better," he said. "I feel more comfortable and that the experience is helping a bit. I feel it's going in a positive direction, which is good to know and it's good to have that feeling."

Source: En.espnf1.com

Hungary preview quotes - Force India

Paul di Resta, Force India
2011 Qualifying - 11th, 2011 Race - 7th
“I had a great race in Hungary last year when I finished seventh just before the summer break. It was the best way to end the first part of the season because there had been a few races up to that point where things hadn’t gone our way. Getting the result in Hungary helped make up for some of the bad luck earlier in the season. I had a great race there last year when I finished seventh just before the summer break. It was the best way to end the first part of the season because there had been a few races up to that point where things hadn’t gone our way. Getting the result in Hungary helped make up for some of the bad luck earlier in the season.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
2011 Qualifying - n/a, 2011 Race - n/a
“I have some very good memories, especially looking back to 2010 when I finished sixth, which at that time was the best result of my Formula One career. Also, in 2009 I won the GP2 race at the Hungaroring. So I’m looking forward to going back there, especially because I like the city of Budapest: it’s just a nice place to visit. I think we should be able to fight for points because we recently looked quite strong on circuits that don’t have so many fast corners, such as Valencia. Although it’s quite a slow circuit, it’s very difficult to get a good lap time because you need to hook up all the corners perfectly, so it’s quite challenging.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
“People suggest that Hungary might play more to our strengths, but regardless of whether it suits us we just need to be ahead of the teams that we are fighting with in the championship and score points. If you take our immediate competitors, Sauber have had three races without points so far, Williams have had four, and we’ve had three. That’s what we need to address: we need to be scoring at every race.”

Source: Formula1.com

Germen GP - Force India driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg (9th)
“We always knew it was going to be tough to hang on to fourth place because we did not look especially strong in the dry conditions on Saturday morning. But when you’re in that position you hope for the best and actually the first part of the race was strong for me and I had some good battles. In terms of strategy, doing three stops was the way forward because a two-stop race was not possible with the way the tyres were degrading. So it’s good to come away with some points but I was certainly hoping for a bit more from my home race.”

Paul di Resta (11th)
“A tough race today and ultimately we didn’t have the pace to match teams like Lotus and Sauber. The story of the race was deciding whether to stop two or three times and with hindsight we probably could have been more aggressive. But it was hard to understand the tyres and we seemed to struggle for pace in the middle of each stint. I think we have the baseline speed in the car but we just couldn’t demonstrate it today and that’s why I missed out on points. Hopefully we can find the sweet spot next weekend before the summer break.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
“Two important points scored today, but we were hoping for more considering our strong starting positions. We split the strategies with Nico stopping three times and Paul doing a two-stop race, and there was little to choose between them in the end. Both drivers battled hard, but it was difficult to defend on such an open track where it is easy to overtake. With today’s result we have moved within a point of Williams in the championship and hopefully we can continue our points run in Hungary next weekend.” 

Source: Formula1.com

Qualifying - ForceIndia driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg (5th, Q3 - 1m 43.501s)
“I feel very excited because it’s always special to qualify well, especially at your home race. It was a session that had a bit of everything because we ran on slicks, intermediates and wets. I think the most tricky conditions came during Q3 when I even aquaplaned off the track during my out lap and went into the gravel. Fortunately I was lucky and able to continue, but there was very little grip on the track. When you start high up you naturally want to finish high up as well and I hope we can have strong race. It will probably be dry tomorrow and there are a lot of quick cars behind us so we will need to think carefully to make the strategy work.”

Paul di Resta (9th, Q2 -1m 44.889s)
“It was a very difficult session and the rain didn’t make life easy for anybody because there was so much aquaplaning on the back straight with two or three big puddles. Towards the end of Q3 I was getting ready for my final run but the traffic didn’t really work out for me and I struggled to get the lap when it really counted. Still, we made it into the top ten so I’m happy, but you always want to be a bit further up the grid. We think it will be dry tomorrow so it was important to get lots of running during final practice this morning to build up a feel for the car in the dry. We are definitely in a good position to score points tomorrow and I’m ready to fight and move forward in the race.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
“I think we made the most of the challenging conditions today and we can be pleased to have both our cars inside the top ten. Nico will probably inherit a second row starting position when Webber takes his five-place penalty and that puts us in a strong position to race at the front. Paul also showed his skill in the wet conditions and will be competitive tomorrow. We’ve demonstrated once again that we have a very consistent car no matter what the conditions and with dry weather forecast for tomorrow I think the scene is set for an exciting race.”

Source: Formula1.com

Friday practice - ForceIndia driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg, P1 - 1:17.599, 6th; P2 - 1:28.495, 6th
“Another Friday practice where it was difficult to find a rhythm and get through the job list. In the morning the rain showers only gave us very limited time to run dry tyres, so I didn’t really get a feel for the hard development tyre. The track surface here is also very smooth and it was quite low grip this morning, especially with the damp parts of the track. With the rain showers this afternoon, all we could do was understand the wet and intermediate tyres in case the wet weather continues tomorrow.”

Paul di Resta, P2 - 1:30.437, 18th 
“A very short day for me with limited mileage in the wet. The track was drying up quite nicely towards the middle of the session and it was near to the crossover point for slicks until the rain returned. We’ve done our wet weather preparation so we just need to see what the weather brings tomorrow.”

Jules Bianchi, P1 - 1:18.972, 16th
“It was not an easy morning session because of the rain showers, which meant we had to stop and wait for the track to dry. The rain was not heavy but it made the track very slippery. I did most of my laps on the medium compound tyres and I was improving lap by lap. I set my quickest lap on my final run when the track condition was at its best and I was able to get closer to the limit of the car.”

Jakob Andreasen, Force India chief engineer
“Conditions like we saw today always pose a great challenge as we try to dial the cars into the track and understand the tyres. Jules did a good job along with Nico this morning, although we had to reduce the programme and make sure we were out when the track was at its best. We still managed to pick up some aero data and completed our baseline dry set-up evaluation. The wet session this afternoon has given us a good read on the performance of the intermediates and the wets, but it was difficult to learn much more than that.”

Source : Formula1.com

Germany preview quotes - Force India

Paul di Resta, Force India
2010 Qualifying - n/a, 2010 Race - n/a
“I know the track well from my days in the DTM and I am looking forward to getting out there in a Formula One car. It’s a fun circuit with some challenging corners and it’s good for overtaking, especially the slow hairpin at turn six. My favourite part of the lap is the stadium, where you can really feel the energy of the crowd. The double right hander onto the start/finish line is another special corner and it’s difficult to get it right. If you have lots of experience on this track you can gain a little bit of time through this corner.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
2010 Qualifying - n/a, 2010 Race - n/a
“It’s always a bit more special (to race at home) and it’s nice that I only live one hour away so I don’t have to catch a flight! The fans always support the race and help produce a good atmosphere, especially in the stadium section at the end of the lap. It’s fair to say that Michael and Sebastian are the main attractions, but the fans always show their support for all the German drivers. (Hockenheim) is where I had my very first car race in 2005 when I raced Formula BMW - and I won both races that weekend. Since then I’ve raced there a lot in Formula Three and I also raced there in Formula One with Williams in 2010. It’s a track I know very well and I enjoy the layout, although it’s a relatively short lap. I think the most challenging corner to get right is turn one. It’s a quick right-hander that we take at well above 200 km/h and there is a tricky curb on the exit. Another important part of the lap is getting the hairpin right. If you get your braking wrong it’s easy to run wide and it’s the main opportunity for overtaking.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
“We will come back in Germany with a greater sense of determination. It’s satisfying to see that we are consistent top ten performers. We need that little bit of extra luck to get on the podium. Having said that, our immediate competitors didn’t have too much luck either - Perez and Maldonado were both going well, but they didn’t score. Sauber didn’t get any more points to increase their lead over us. We are still only three points adrift of Williams and 16 behind Sauber, so we have reasons to be optimistic going forward. Hockenheim is also Nico’s home race. We have no time to take things easy. We have to take every race very seriously, with the same intensity and do everything we possibly can to earn more points.”

Source: Formula1.com (Official Formula1 site) 

Mallya: More luck needed for podiums

Vijay Mallya believes his Force India team will still need some good luck before it can convert the speed it has shown in recent races into potential podium places. 

The Silverstone-based outfit has delivered some promising pace in the last few events, but hopes of it moving forward from its fifth and seventh places in Valencia were dashed by misfortune in the British Grand Prix.

Paul di Resta was forced to retire after a first lap collision with Romain Grosjean, while Nico Hulkenberg lost out on points after his wet-weather set-up proved not ideal for the dry conditions.

Despite that disappointing afternoon, Mallya is encouraged by the recent progress the team has shown - as he looks for it to make progress in the Constructors' Championship.

"It's satisfying to see that we are consistent top ten performers," he said. "We need that little bit of extra luck to get on the podium.

"Having said that, our immediate competitors didn't have too much luck either – [Sergio] Perez and [Pastor] Maldonado were both going well, but they didn't score. Sauber didn't get any more points to increase their lead over us. 

"We are still only three points adrift of Williams and 16 behind Sauber, so we have reasons to be optimistic going forward."

Mallya also believes that the competitiveness of the field this year means there is no chance for the team to ease off at any event this year.

"We have no time to take things easy," he explained. "We have to take every race very seriously, with the same intensity and do everything we possibly can to earn more points."

Source: Autosport.com

Force India duo say team making progress towards the front

Force India's drivers are convinced the team is making forward progress and has improved its competitiveness in comparison to its immediate rivals Sauber and Williams. Paul di Resta retired on the second lap of last weekend's British Grand Prix, while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg fell out of the points in the final laps having qualified fast enough to make it into Q3, though he would later receive a grid penalty for a gearbox change. But both drivers recognised that Silverstone was not perhaps the circuit most suited to the VJM03's strengths and believe that they can replicate their Valencia from - where Hulkenberg finished fifth and di Resta seventh - in future races. "Valencia we were very strong and in up and coming events we should be relatively optimistic that we can do something," di Resta told AUTOSPORT. "I think we have made step forward. "The teams around and about us started very well but we are catching up and so long as we can keep the progression and the level going... the guys are working hard and trying hard to understand it all." Hulkenberg agreed that the updates the team brought to Valencia have improved the car, but added that Force India must keep pushing if it wanted to stay in touch with Williams (which has won a grand prix already in 2012) and Sauber, which has been on the podium twice thanks to Sergio Perez. "I would say we have improved step-by-step," said Hulkenberg. "In Valencia P5 was good, but there were four cars in front which dropped out - which normally would have been in front of us and that is also pretty clear. "We are getting better, but we to as well if we are to compete with the likes of Sauber and Williams – who are our main rivals – and to stay close to them in the Constructors' Championship." Source: autosport.com

British GP- Force India Drivers Quotes

Nico Hulkenberg (12th)
“It was a tough race today, especially because my car was set up to favour wet conditions. That helped us yesterday, but hurt my top speed this afternoon. There were always cars around me in the race, especially in the final few laps when I had to defend from Bruno and Jenson, and I could not afford to make any mistakes. Unfortunately I locked up the rears going into turn three with two laps to go and that gave Bruno the chance to get ahead of me in the DRS zone. It’s frustrating to lose points so close to the finish but my tyres were running out of performance and the car was not easy to drive in the final stint.”

Paul di Resta (DNF)
“I’m not really sure what happened. I just turned into turn four and there was no pressure in the right rear tyre so it was clearly punctured and coming off the rim. All I could do was bring the car back to the pits, but there was quite a lot of damage to the floor. I took some fresh tyres and went back out, but I was missing a lot of downforce and I went off the track at Becketts. So the team made the call to retire the car. I’m very disappointed because we took a gamble yesterday by running a dry set-up and the conditions today would have been ideal for us. On a positive note I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to the fans who have put up with the weather and shown amazing support all week.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
“We should have scored points today so we leave our local race feeling disappointed. Nico drove a strong race and looked set for ninth, but we lost out to Senna with a couple of laps to go. Unfortunately in his eagerness to regain the spot Nico ran wide at Copse corner and dropped out of the points, which is frustrating. I’m also disappointed for Paul who retired after just a couple of laps. His car would have been well suited to the dry conditions today and we never got a chance to see what he could do in front of his home crowd. It’s still unclear what caused the puncture, but we suspect contact in the first couple of corners.”

Source: Formula1.com

Qualifying - ForceIndia driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg (9th, Q3 - 1m 54.382s)
“It was a very long session with the delay, but I think I made the most of the conditions in Q1 and Q2. It was definitely the right call to stop the session when the rain got really heavy because there was too much standing water on the circuit and the car was beginning to aquaplane. But I don’t understand where the pace went in Q3 when I was on the intermediates because the car felt more tricky to drive and the laptime didn’t come so easy. I was actually hoping for a better position in Q3 than P9, especially with the five-place penalty I have for tomorrow.”

Paul di Resta (11th, Q2 -1m 57.009s)
“We actually took a bit of gamble on the qualifying session being dry and that’s the direction we took with the set-up, but it made driving very difficult in today’s wet conditions. I think some other cars went more aggressive with a full wet set-up so hopefully my gamble will come back to me tomorrow in the race. Of course I would like to be starting further towards the front, but we are going into the race with a lot of unknowns in terms of set-up data and tyre performance. Anything is possible in the race and we won’t give up.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
“Another very wet day at our local race and I want to pay tribute to the fans who put up with yet more rain showers and delayed track action. Our car looked competitive today, but in such tricky conditions qualifying is always a lottery and so we can’t be too disappointed to have just one car in Q3. Paul just missed the cut, but we have a good race car and we know he will fight hard tomorrow. In Q3 Nico didn’t manage to maximise his final quick lap and he also has to drop five places on the grid due to the gearbox change. I’m looking forward to the race and whatever the weather I’m confident we can be up there fighting for points and challenging the teams ahead of us.”

Source: Formula1.com

Hulkenberg plays down podium chances

Nico Hulkenberg has played down Force India's chances of finishing on the podium in the British Grand Prix.

Force India was very competitive in Valencia as Hulkenberg finished in fifth place and Paul di Resta seventh having both qualified in the top ten. Neither driver was completely happy with their qualifying performance either, suggesting the car was capable of more, and the VJM05 will receive another set of updates ahead of the race at Silverstone. Hulkenberg, however, believes the circuit characteristics won't play to Force India's strengths as much as the Valencia street circuit did. 

"I think it's a bit more difficult (to score a podium), the nature of this circuit maybe is not 100% suited to our car," Hulkenberg told Sky Sports. "But we have new parts here, new development parts and now we need to find out what they do to our car and make them work in the right way for us. Then I think we can have another strong result." 

With Force India's headquarters just outside the circuit boundary at Silverstone, Hulkenberg said he was looking forward to one of the team's home grands prix. 

"I love it; it's our home race, our factory is right here - only a couple of hundred metres away from us. I love Silverstone, it's a great track; Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, all these great corners which bring a big smile to my face, certainly. So I look forward to it. It's high speed, it's got a good flow and I think that's all you need. 

"It's not extra pressure. It's a bit more busy, if you look at the schedule there's more stuff to do - there's more people and more guests - but for me on the circuit and my work with the engineers, it's not affected. We try hard every weekend and so will we here again this weekend."

Source: En.espnf1.com

Great Britain preview quotes - Force India

Paul di Resta, Force India
2011 Qualifying - 6th, 2011 Race - 15th
“I think we arrive at Silverstone feeling positive. The performance level we showed in Valencia was a boost for the team and if we can build on that ahead of Silverstone I’m optimistic we can continue to put on a strong show. The guys back at the factory are working hard to give us some developments in time for the weekend so hopefully we can find a bit more performance. It’s the track that makes you really appreciate what a Formula One car is capable of, especially the aerodynamic grip through the quick corners and the change of direction. Everybody talks about Maggotts and Becketts, but there really is nothing else like them anywhere in the world. I also enjoy the new section and every year we go back there it gets better and better. The new layout has definitely created some more overtaking opportunities, especially with the introduction of DRS, so it’s been the right move.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
2011 Qualifying - n/a, 2011 Race - n/a
“I have good memories from Silverstone, both in GP2 and Formula One. It is one of those classic races that bring a smile to your face when you think of some of the corners. I actually describe it as an ‘old-school’ circuit because it’s narrow and you have to be really committed and brave through the quick parts of the lap. It’s super-fast and great fun when you hook up the perfect lap.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
“We always try to put our best foot forward at Silverstone. It’s where our factory is based and it’s our second home race of the season. It’s also one of the most atmospheric events on the calendar thanks to the passion of the British fans who always show tremendous support. For our team, it’s definitely a highlight of the season. We arrive back at Silverstone off the back of our strongest performance of the year. In fact, the 16 points scored in Valencia are the most we have ever scored in one weekend. Those points have proved to be very valuable, bringing us within a point of Williams and just 16 adrift of Sauber. So we are catching up with our nearest competitors quite quickly. Now we need to keep up the momentum. As for the drivers, they both performed brilliantly in Valencia. Paul was the only driver to pull off a one-stop strategy, which was a tremendous effort, while Nico’s fifth place was his best finish in Formula One. I believe this will be a great boost for Nico and it’s just the result he deserves after some unlucky races this year. We will have some developments for the car this weekend and we will certainly give our all to try and come away with another strong result. I think our performance in Valencia showed just how much we have learned from the tough lessons of Canada in terms of understanding the tyres and being aggressive with the strategy. The aim this weekend is to deliver a repeat performance, pick up points and keep pushing hard to move up the championship table.”

Source: Formula1.com