Japanase GP - Preview - Force India Driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg
2013 Qualifying - 7th, 2013 Race - 6th
"Suzuka is one of the best circuits of the year. I think it's quite similar to Spa in terms of the feeling you get inside the car. It's just a great place to experience a Formula One car and it's a lot of fun. There are some big corners, especially the ‘S' curves, which are very technical. Finding the right balance is very important for being quick in these long, sweeping corners. The last couple of years I've scored good points in Japan so I want to add some more this year.
"It's also a fun weekend outside of the car: the fans really show their love for the teams and drivers, and they're very sweet and respectful. When we travel from the hotel to the track they are always there standing on the side of the road waving at us with both hands. I'm also a big fan of Japanese food, so it's a good chance to enjoy the local food, especially the teppanyaki."

Sergio Perez
2013 Qualifying - 11th, 2013 Race - 15th
"Suzuka is such an exciting circuit. It's a classic full of great corners in every sector. It's a track where confidence with your car is especially important because you need to find the flow of the lap, especially in the first sector from turns two to seven where you have to be totally committed. The key is to be precise, but it's very technical and not easy to hit every apex. Because there are so many high-speed corners, it's not easy to follow cars closely and overtaking is very difficult. It's possible, though, and I remember having a good battle with Lewis [Hamilton] two years ago.

"We meet great fans during the season wherever we go, but I would rate the fans in Japan as some of the best. They have a lot of love for Formula One and they have always been very kind to me. It is always fantastic to come back to this country because they help make this race a special one."

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
"We haven't had the best of results in Suzuka over the years, but hopefully with this car and these two drivers we can come away with some points. We brought an aero update to Singapore and, in terms of race pace, it worked well. Suzuka will give us another chance to evaluate those parts because it's a track that is dominated by medium-speed corners. There are also a few more bits and pieces coming before the end of the year, so we're continuing to push hard and not giving up."

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Force India will 'fight like hell' to stay ahead of McLaren - Vijay Mallya

Vijay Mallya hopes Force India can beat McLaren at their own game, and hold on to fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship, with upgrades they’re planning later this season.

The Silverstone team jumped six points clear of their rivals at last weekend’s Singapore GP, in which Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh and ninth respectively.

By contrast, it was a difficult weekend for McLaren, with Kevin Magnussen claiming a solitary point at a race where they’d introduced a number of changes to their car.

The expectation is that the bigger team will eventually assert themselves. But at the same time, the concern for McLaren is the lack of clear progress they’re making with the MP4-29, despite its frequent upgrades.

As such, Mallya is optimistic improvements to Force India’s own VJM07 will prove effective – and bolster their 2015 campaign into the bargain.

“I know that there’s another upgrade coming later on this season and that’s all part of the plan,” Force India’s Team Principal said.

“The only reason I’m approving this development right up until the last race - which I never did before in previous seasons – is because whatever we’re doing now in terms of development can be carried forward into next year’s car.

“If it was full-stop at the end of this season and start again for next year, I may not have bothered to do what I’m doing.

“But because all the development that’s happening as we speak can actually carry forward to 2015, it’s an investment also in next year’s car.”
Mallya says he’s proud Force India are giving McLaren a run for their money since, according to him, they’re doing it with half the Woking team’s budget.

“I refer to McLaren as ‘the great McLaren’. I truly believe that’s a World Championship team, so I’m not going to take them for granted,” he said.

“I’m going to throw everything I have at it and fight like hell.

“For a team like Force India to be engaged in such a competitive battle with a team like the great McLaren itself says a lot about us and I feel quite proud about it.”

The flamboyant 58-year-old businessman added: “Let’s be clear: when you race with the big boys and you get ahead of them, it gives you that extra bit of a high, doesn’t it?”

Mallya also confirmed that he wanted both Perez and Hulkenberg to stay on at the team.

Although Hulkenberg made the stronger start to the season, it’s Perez who has gained the better results since the summer break.

The Mexican fell to 17th in Singapore after he was hit by Adrian Sutil’s Sauber, but made up ten places with a late surge through the field.

“Both of them have the same talent and both have my respect. I’ve confirmed before: I’m not looking to change anything. I’m very happy with both of them,” Mallya added.

“Nico had a better start to the season than Checo but equally I have to say that Checo didn’t have all the luck in the world."

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Singapore GP - Race - Force India driver quotes

Nico Hulkenberg, 9th
"It's good to be in the points and from a team perspective it's been a successful day. This is always a difficult race, especially from a strategic point of view, and maybe we could have achieved even more today. After the safety car I had to do a 30-lap stint on the soft tyres and like most of the cars ahead I was running out of grip towards the end of the race. With hindsight it would have been better to pit again for fresh tyres and we probably could have finished even higher up, but it's always a difficult decision for the team with the information we had at the time. The good news is that we got two cars home in the points."

Sergio Perez, 7th
"The race really had everything for me and the final laps were very enjoyable. I was very happy with our performance today and, most importantly, we finished ahead of our direct competitors. Those in front of me at the end had big tyre degradation, but this affected me as well. When I caught the train ahead I didn't have much grip either and this made each one of the overtakes a bit more difficult. We managed our tyres perfectly and to go from P15 to P7 was the reward we deserved. It was a great result for the team; they did a fantastic job with the strategy and it worked very well for both Nico and me. Today was one of those results where the race gives you a fantastic feeling: it's more than just scoring the points - it's about how you gained the result. Everything gets thrown at you but you don't give up and come back strongly to get the points."

Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
"To come away from Singapore with eight points in our pocket and fifth place in the championship is a fantastic result. It was an eventful race, especially for Checo, and it was only in the closing laps that the race came back to us. We had to make some difficult decisions on the pit wall today, but I think on the whole we made the right ones. There was a bit of luck, too, but we made the most of our opportunities and Checo and Nico drove extremely well. It sets us up well for the final five races where it's crucial that we continue to score well with both cars."

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Singapore GP - Qualifying - Force India Driver's Quotes

Nico Hulkenberg (13th, Q2 - 1:47.308)
"The qualifying hour in Singapore is always intense and stressful, but I was hoping to be a bit more competitive and squeeze into the top ten. As it turned out, a place in Q3 was a few tenths away, but my lap was pretty good. I feel quite positive about the race because I have a free choice on tyres for the start and Singapore is always a long and eventful race. There are a few strategy options because yesterday we saw a lot of tyre degradation on both the compounds. The target is to come away with points tomorrow."

Sergio Perez (15th, Q2 - 1:47.575)
"The track felt very different today and we were not expecting such a dramatic change coming into qualifying. As the session went on, we struggled to get the tyres to work in the way we wanted. We headed out early in Q2 to try and get a clean out lap and prepare the tyres, but obviously we knew this would give away something in terms of performance with the track evolution. Even with these choices, we weren't able to make the progress we wanted. Looking at the race we know that overtaking on this circuit is quite difficult, but with a good start and a strong strategy we can make up some places. This track is very harsh in terms of tyre degradation and I expect it to play a big part tomorrow. It will be a battle to get some good points, but on a track like this everything is possible."

Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director
"We were expecting to be a little higher up the grid today. Our starting positions tomorrow mean we will need to work a bit harder to score the points we need. However, I feel quite positive about our long run pace, which should allow us to race competitively. Singapore usually throws up opportunities to explore different strategies and we enjoy racing in the heat. We need to be ready to maximise the opportunities that come up in the race with the goal of getting both cars in the points."

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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."

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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."

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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"

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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.”

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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."

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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."

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