Monaco GP - Practice - Force India Quotes

Force India were solidly in the midst of the midfield runners, with Perez narrowly pipping his team mate in both sessions. Perez has scored points in the past two races and will be looking to continue that run.

Sergio Perez - FP1: 1:13.717, P8; FP2: 1:13.370, P12
“The general feeling with the car is good, but we need to improve the balance to find some more lap time before qualifying. It is going to be a very close battle in the midfield, but if we do a good job over the next few days we can battle for a place in Q3.”

Esteban Ocon - FP1: 1:14.000, P11; FP2: 1:13.382, P13
“It’s always awesome to drive here. It’s a special track and very technical, which makes it complicated to find the right set-up. The track evolved a huge amount during the day and you have to adapt to the conditions and not go over the limit. I kissed the wall gently this morning, but there were no other dramas and we built up our speed with each run. It’s all about getting your confidence up before Saturday and it was important to keep out of trouble.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer
“It was a positive Thursday. We ran reliably in both practice sessions and completed our programme despite the red flag that cost us some time. We split the aero items between the two cars and evaluated some new parts. We had the chance to run the new hypersoft tyres for the first time and the feedback is positive: the grip is impressive and it’s an increase compared to the ultrasoft compound. We improved the car throughout the day but we expect the margins between teams in the midfield to remain very small. There is still plenty to do, but we did our homework today and gathered all the race tyre data we needed. This circuit is all about maximising track time, building the confidence and finding a rhythm. We did a good job today but the real work starts now.”


Formula1.com

Monaco Preview - Force India quotes

Sergio Perez

"I love everything about Monaco. It’s my favourite track and it’s one of the biggest races of the year. I always try to enjoy the week as much as possible. I try to soak up the special atmosphere and make the most of the opportunity to drive on this amazing circuit. I always feel very lucky to be driving in Monaco.

“The reason I like Monaco so much is because it’s not easy. It’s a massive challenge and it’s always a tough race. Every lap you are under pressure. There is no chance to relax. You need to build up your speed, build your confidence and be careful not to overstep the limit. When the car is working well and you have confidence, it’s the best feeling in the world.

“Qualifying in Monaco is the most important session of the year. I usually say that qualifying is 99% of the weekend because overtaking on Sunday is very difficult – unless it rains. So there is big pressure on the Saturday and it’s not easy to find space in Q1 when all the cars are on track. It can become a lottery. You rely on your team to help you find some space.

“I’ve had some good results in Monaco, especially the podium two years ago. I always enjoy street circuits and I think it’s another good opportunity for us to score points."

Esteban Ocon

"I think everybody loves going to Monaco. It’s just such a special place. When you think of F1, you think of Monaco. Driving on the famous streets in an F1 car was a dream come true and I’m just as excited to go back there this year.

“The location is so spectacular. It’s beautiful and glamorous with an amazing atmosphere. When you arrive at the start of the week you can’t help smiling when you walk down the pit lane and see all the final touches being made.

“The fans can get really close and I think that’s important. It’s definitely the busiest week of the year. All the sponsors want to be there and every night you have events. That’s why it’s great to have the additional day so that you can fit everything in.

“It’s also a true driving challenge. You have to be so precise and there is no room for error. You have to find the limit quickly and be careful not to step over it. Last year I found out the hard way in FP3, but with more experience this year I hope it won’t happen again."

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal

"Monaco is always a great opportunity to score good points. Both Sergio and Esteban love the track and historically we’ve been competitive on street circuits. You sometimes need the luck to go your way, which didn’t happen last year, but that’s part of the unpredictable challenge of Monaco. The car is getting better with each race.

"The updates in Spain took us a step forward and there is more to come. After five races it feels like we have some momentum behind us now. It’s also worth remembering that in 2016 after five races we had scored fewer points than we have now [14 vs 18]. It’s a reminder of how quickly things can change in Formula 1. There is a long way to go.”

Formula1.com

Spanish GP - Race - Force India Quotes

Ocon had a frustrating day - having worked his way up into the points, he lost a lot of time in a pit stop before retiring with an oil leak. Perez had a better afternoon - he avoided the initial drama, and gambled under the VSC to fit a set of soft tyres, which he used to good effect to overtake Leclerc. He rode his luck, though, after running over a piece of debris which appeared to be lodged under his floor for the closing stages of the race...


Sergio Perez, 9th
“It was a tough afternoon but to score two points in these conditions is not a bad result and a decent reward after a difficult race. I made a good start but I had to go wide to avoid the accident with Grosjean and I lost a lot of positions. It really complicated everything for me because it put me behind a lot of other cars. After that we made the right strategy calls, especially pitting under VSC, but then I hit debris from Verstappen’s car and I picked up some damage. I was struggling with a lot of vibrations and I was lucky to make it to the end. It’s good to come home with some points after starting so far back, but it’s a shame about Esteban’s retirement because we could have scored points with both cars today. We have a lot to improve, but I hope we can be much more competitive in Monaco.”

Esteban Ocon, DNF
“A disappointing day on my side of the garage. We were racing well and looking good for some points. Then things went wrong at my pit stop when there was a problem changing the right rear wheel. We lost about twenty seconds and it put us to the back of the pack. A few laps later I lost power and had to park the car. It looks like an oil pressure problem, but we need to wait until the car is back to know exactly what happened.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer
“To come away with two points from such a challenging weekend is a pretty good outcome all things considered. Esteban’s issues today certainly robbed him of the chance to score points, but Sergio drove a strong race making the most of an excellent two-stop strategy. The wheel issue during Esteban’s stop needs to be fully investigated, but we believe some debris from his brake duct caused the problem. The subsequent oil leak ended his race, but we are hoping that there is no damage to the engine.”

Formula1.com 
 

Spanish GP - Qualifying - Force India Quotes

Force India had appeared to be in the mix for the top ten, but lacked outright pace in qualifying. Both drivers exited in Q2 without much of a fight and will need to push hard to work their way into the points tomorrow. It is a bitter pill to swallow after their podium last time out, but with a driver in Perez who is a master at extending tyre life, perhaps they could spring a surprise with a different strategy to their midfield rivals...



Esteban Ocon, 13th, 1:18.696 
“I am a bit disappointed about our end result because we didn’t really have the pace we expected. I was happy with how the car was set up and we can see the updates we brought here are working, but we need a little bit more to close the gap with the front of the pack. I am still feeling positive for tomorrow. We are not too far away from the top ten and our race pace is not bad. We need a good start and then we’ll see what we can do. Last year I gained five places from start to finish and I’d be happy to do the same this year.”

Sergio Perez, 15th, 1:19.098 
“It was a disappointing qualifying session. Q1 was okay and the car and tyres were working well, but in Q2 we lost so much performance. It’s really odd because we used the same strategy as we did in Q1, but the tyres behaved totally differently. We could not switch them on and the car was sliding around, which is why my lap was four tenths slower than Q1. I still hope we can fight back tomorrow and come away with some points.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer
“For various reasons today’s qualifying session didn’t allow us to deliver the performance we expected. Esteban’s session was clean enough, but we were missing a few tenths of performance needed to progress to Q3. Sergio suffered with tyre warm-up issues in Q2 and complained about a lack of grip, which meant he couldn’t improve on the time he set in Q1. It’s disappointing not to be higher up the grid on this track where grid position is so important, but we will try our best to turn things around in the race. The car looked competitive during the race simulation runs yesterday afternoon so let’s see if we can recover some points tomorrow.”

Formula1.com 

Spanish GP - Friday Practice - Force India Quotes

Force India got their programmes done and it seemed to be plain sailing until Perez was released from a routine pit stop with a loose wheel late on in FP2. He had to park on track and Force India were later called to the stewards and handed a fine for an unsafe release.

Sergio Perez - FP1: 1:20.924, P13; FP2: 1:19.962, P10
“I think we’ve made a lot of progress throughout the day. We have some good information and we have learned about the new parts on the car; we have made a step forward. The balance is still not ideal so there is the potential to find more performance tomorrow. The track was very green this morning, but it improved this afternoon even though it was very windy.”

Esteban Ocon - FP1: 1:21.144, P16; FP2: 1:20.024, P11
“It was a solid day and a big effort by the team to try so many different things on the car in the first session. We managed to complete most of the big jobs and now we need to do more homework to understand everything. I think there is still a lot more to come because we are not exactly where we want to be with the car. Track conditions were not easy for anybody because it was very windy and difficult to put together a clean lap and stay on the track.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer
“It’s been a productive start to our weekend, despite some tricky conditions. Our work today was mostly aimed at evaluating new aero parts – floor, barge boards and front wing – as well as gathering data about the tyre compounds. The wind was reasonably high and it caught a few drivers out but we managed to collect all the critical data we needed to help our preparations for the weekend. There was a small problem with Sergio’s left front wheel at the end of the session, the cause of which we are investigating, but it only cost us a minimal amount of track time. We are in pretty good shape ahead of the weekend with plenty of data to analyse tonight so that the team can make the right decisions for qualifying and the race.”

Formula1.com

 

Spanish GP - Force India Preview

Sergio Perez
"Finishing on the podium in Baku felt amazing. After a few tough races we finally got a result we deserved. It reminded me of 2016, when we had a difficult start to the season and then we had the podium in Monaco. We were quick in Baku right from the start and we knew there was the chance to score a great result. I’m so proud of my team and the way we did it. Even when we had to pit on lap one, we didn’t stop fighting or stop believing.
“Barcelona was our best result as a team last year so you never know what can happen this year. It’s a track we know really well because of testing, but of course the car has changed a lot since the pre-season and it will be interesting to feel the difference the upgrades have made. Unlike in Baku, overtaking is quite difficult at Barcelona so we will need to be perfect in qualifying.
“It’s great to be back racing in Europe and Barcelona is the perfect place to start this part of the championship. I really enjoy the city of Barcelona and my trainer Xavi is Catalan, so it’s a special race for him.”

Esteban Ocon
“It was disappointing not to finish the race in Baku, especially since we had such strong pace. I know this is how racing goes sometimes and you have to learn from it and look ahead.
“Heading to Spain really feels like coming home after all the long flights in the first part of the year. Barcelona is probably the track I know the most – it’s the first track I drove in single seaters at the start of my career. We test a lot there so we know the place well and we get our hospitality buildings back so it feels much more like a familiar environment.
“Barcelona itself is wonderful: it’s a place that feels young with a relaxed atmosphere and the weather is amazing. Part of my family lives in the city and it’s very close to where I was training this winter, so I know the place by heart now. Last year we did really well there; the pace was good all over the weekend and we raced really well. We have been making good progress with the car recently so we have to target some good points.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal
“Baku feels like a turning point in our season. The podium has given us a huge boost and is just the result we needed. It helps us forget about the bad luck and missed opportunities from the first few races.
“Our speed in Baku confirms we are moving in the right direction. We understand the car more and we are taking steps forward at each race. With the podium it feels as though our season is up and running. We now have some momentum behind us. Let’s see what we can do in Barcelona where we will have more new parts to try on the car.”

Formula1.com 
 

Perez - Last two laps to seal podium place ‘the best of my life’

It was a race for the ages, so it seems fitting that Sergio Perez has declared the last two laps of Sunday’s incident-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix – the laps that secured him a sensational eighth F1 podium - as ‘the best of his life’. 

That the Mexican came through to finish on the rostrum, repeating his result of 2016 at the same circuit, was somewhat remarkable given he found himself in the pits at the end of lap one nursing significant damage.

“Our race was a rollercoaster,” said a breathless Perez, who became the first driver in the history of the event to finish on the podium twice.

“We started with an incident on the first lap when I was hit from behind by a Williams [Sirotkin]. That pushed me into Kimi [Raikkonen] and broke my front wing so I had to pit. I was at the back and then I was given a five seconds penalty.

“I was able to make my way through the field and when the Safety Car came out we managed to keep our position. The team did a great pit stop and I was able to serve my penalty and still come out in front of Grosjean.

“I was looking after my tyres because we only had supersofts left and warming them up was very difficult. I was struggling and every corner was a lottery, but then I saw the cars in front of me were struggling too.”

One of those cars that was struggling was long-time race leader Sebastian Vettel, whose do-or-die move on Valtteri Bottas at the re-start had dropped him to fourth and left him with flat-spotted tyres. It was then that Perez pounced, passing the German for P4, which became third when Bottas went out. His work, however, was far from done.

“I passed Seb but then he recovered and put pressure on me,” Perez said. “I had to give it everything in the last two laps: my pace was unbelievable and I think they were the best two laps of my life.

“I had to keep a very strong rhythm, trying to keep close to Raikkonen, to make sure that Sebastian didn’t get close enough, and in the end we did it. I’m speechless.”

With his eighth podium finish, Perez now stands alone amongst his countryman in terms of rostrum finishes, moving one clear of the late Pedro Rodriguez. With his first points of the year, he also moves from P15 to P9 in the drivers’ standings.

“This podium means a lot to me,” Perez continued. “I am very pleased and proud for myself, my family, my team and Mexico.”

Formula1.com 
 

 

Azarbaijan Race - Force India Quotes

Ocon's race was over on the first lap after he was pitched into the wall by contact with Raikkonen - in what the stewards deemed a racing incident. Perez was also caught up in the first-lap dramas, being hit from behind by Sirotkin and forced to pit. From there the Mexican played the long game, grabbed some fresh rubber under the final safety car and kept out of trouble to grab his second Baku podium and open up his points tally for the season in style.

Sergio Perez, 3rd
“I’m extremely happy. Our race was a rollercoaster. We started with an incident on the first lap when I was hit from behind by a Williams [Sirotkin]. That pushed me into Kimi [Raikkonen] and broke my front wing so I had to pit. I was at the back and then I was given a five seconds penalty. I was able to make my way through the field and when the Safety Car came out we managed to keep our position. The team did a great pit stop and I was able to serve my penalty and still come out in front of Grosjean. I was looking after my tyres because we only had SuperSofts left and warming them up was very difficult. I was struggling and every corner was a lottery, but then I saw the cars in front of me were struggling too. I passed Seb [Vettel] but then he recovered and put pressure on me. I had to give it everything in the last two laps: my pace was unbelievable and I think they were the best two laps of my life. This podium means a lot to me, I am very pleased and proud for myself, my family, my team and Mexico.”

Esteban Ocon, DNF
“It’s disappointing not to finish the race on a day in which we had such good pace. I had a flying start and I managed to pass Kimi [Raikkonen]. I was ahead of him all the way to turn two and when we went into the corner. I was behind Ricciardo but Kimi made a lunge and put me in the barriers. I feel it was my corner and I was on the racing line, but he locked up and hit me. I feel the mistake was on his side: we’ll see what the Stewards say but that won’t change the outcome for me. It’s a shame because Sergio showed we had the pace to do really well here today. I am still very pleased for the team’s result and I hope we can carry our performance forward to Barcelona and beyond.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer
“Huge congratulations to Sergio and the entire team on a fantastic podium finish in Baku. We have been quick all weekend and it’s very satisfying to convert our potential into solid points. Sergio drove a remarkable race, recovering from damage on lap one to snatch the podium finish from Sebastian [Vettel] with just three laps to go. He did everything we asked of him and the strategy was spot on, even allowing us to recover from a five seconds penalty. This result is down to a tremendous team effort and feels all the more enjoyable after a difficult start to the season and some unlucky races. Of course, it was disappointing to lose Esteban on lap one when he was taken out by Raikkonen because he would surely have scored points as well. The result gives us a nice boost as we return to Europe and shows just how much progress we have made over the last month to bring performance to the car.”

Formula1.com 
 

Perez hails ‘massive’ qualifying result for Force India

Force India are back in the game. After being almost notable by their absence from the midfield battle to date this season, in Baku qualifying on Saturday they were (by some margin) ‘best of the rest’ behind the top three teams, with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez seventh and eighth respectively.

It was the first time this year that Force India have got both cars into Q3 and Perez said it had been a very big day for the him and the team, despite narrowly losing out in the times to Ocon – and to the sixth-placed Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

“As a team result it’s a massive one, a massive boost for us,” said the Mexican. “We were clearly the fastest midfield team today.

“I’m a bit disappointed the margin was so close, not just to my team mate but to Raikkonen, but my qualifying had been so low. I mean I didn’t get a clear lap up until Q3.

“With the wind conditions that we had today – so many yellow flags were out – it was not the ideal preparation for Q3, but I’m very happy we made it.”

Ocon was equally pleased with the obvious steps forward Force India have taken in Azerbaijan – a race where he and Perez famously clashed last year – and is confident a good result is possible on Sunday.

“It’s been very strong this weekend – P3 for Sergio in FP1 and then P7 for us in FP2,” he said. “We’re solid overall. As a weekend I think we’ve brought good progress to the car.

“It was very enjoyable to drive and we are where we deserve [to be] today. The team is working very, very hard and it’s still a long season, so I hope we can keep that position.

“We have the pace overall for the long runs – if we have it in quali it should be okay in the race – but you know there’s a lot of opportunities here to gain or to lose, so you have to be careful with what you do in the race.”

Perez insisted there would definitely be no repeat of last year’s coming together between the two pink and white cars, adding: “We know that tomorrow is a massive opportunity for us, to be able to score a good amount of points for the team.”

He also conceded that while on speed alone Force India won’t be podium contenders on Sunday, different climatic conditions and the unpredictability of the Baku City Circuit could throw up an unexpected result.

“Tomorrow is going to be a new track – we’re expecting cooler track temperatures, the wind to pick up, so it will be quite interesting. On pure pace I don’t believe (a rostrum is possible), but it’s Baku and so much can happen here.”

Formula1.com 

Azarbaijan Qualifying - Force India Quotes

Force India firmly pushed themselves to the front of the midfield battle in Baku, getting both cars into Q3 for the first time this season. It wasn't all plain sailing - Perez had to use the escape road in Q1 and nearly ran out of time to atone for his error, just scraping into Q2. Now, it remains to be seen whether they back up their form in the race and grab their first double points finish of the season. But perhaps more importantly, can they avoid impeding each other at the start unlike last time out in China?

Sergio Perez, 8th, 1:42.547
“I am pretty happy with our performance today. It’s been a good day for the team even though we probably had the pace to be further up the grid. I don’t think we fully maximised our performance and it was a very complicated qualifying session. There were so many yellow flags and the wind made things very complicated, which is why there were so many errors. I couldn’t get a proper clean run until Q3. The race tomorrow will be all about being in the right place at the right time and making the most of the opportunities as they arise. The track suits us and I believe there is plenty of potential to make up a few more places. Days like these are a great motivation for everyone in the team and show we are making progress. We were the top team in the midfield today but it’s tomorrow that really counts.”

Esteban Ocon, 7th, 1:42.523
“It has been a very strong day for us. The car is working well and it’s been very enjoyable to drive. We’ve made good progress improving the car and we have been quick in every session. Today we were the fourth fastest team and we really deserved this result. Tomorrow is a big opportunity and we need to make the most of it. We saw last year what can happen here with safety cars and incidents so we need to be patient and stay out of trouble.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer
“Seventh and eighth on the grid is a well-deserved result and confirms that all our hard work is paying off. We’ve been competitive since first practice yesterday and improved the car with each session in the lead up to qualifying. It’s a track that has always suited us and both drivers love driving here. Qualifying is only part of the job and there’s a big task ahead of us tomorrow. It’s never an easy race here so converting today’s performance into solid points won’t be easy, but we will do our best to bring home the result of which we are capable.”

Formula1.com