American GP - Preview - Force India Quotes

Sergio Perez
"Austin is a great place to race. It has been my home race for several years, before the return of the Mexican Grand Prix, and the circuit is great fun for both fans and drivers. The city is very cool and there is so much happening during Grand Prix week. When I step into the cockpit and see all the Mexican flags and the fans in the stands it’s an incredible boost for me.
"The track has some special parts, especially the first sector and the uphill turn one. You can take a few different lines through the corner and you can brake really late for it, which makes it a good place to overtake. The whole of the first sector is very fun to drive with a lot of quick corners.”

Nico Hulkenberg
“Of the newer tracks on the calendar I think Austin is probably my favourite. The variation of corners makes it good fun to drive and they’ve designed a very nice facility. The track is smooth and it’s easy to find your rhythm. It's generally a busy weekend on and off the track: Austin is a fun city that really embraces the race and the atmosphere is great.
“The lap is made up of a mixture of corners - high-speed, medium-speed and low-speed. There are also a lot of gradient changes, such as the uphill approach to turn one where it can be tricky to get your brake balance right. Turns three to six are where downforce counts and you need a car that’s responsive to the quick changes of direction. It’s these quick parts of the lap that put high lateral energy through your tyres.
“The DRS is worth quite a lot in Austin and the long straight between turns 11 and 12 is a really good opportunity for overtaking. We should be in good shape and competitive there, which would be the best way to bounce back after my disappointing weekend in Sochi.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, team principal
“The next race in Austin is one of my favourites. They always put on a great event and the fans show lots of enthusiasm for our sport. Luck wasn’t on our side there last year, but there is every reason to believe we can be competitive this year and build on the momentum from Sochi.”

Formula1.com 
 

Force India strategy was 'on edge'

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley says the strategy decision that earned Sergio Perez a Formula 1 podium in the Russian Grand Prix was a very close call.

The Mexican scored the third podium of the team's Force India era as he finished third behind Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at Sochi.

When Lotus's Romain Grosjean hit the barrier to bring out the safety car on lap 12, fifth-placed Perez was one of only four drivers to dive into the pits to swap his super-softs for the soft tyres.

That left him with 41 laps to complete on the same set of tyres, but he held third with two laps to go and then regained it when Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen collided after overtaking him.

When asked if Perez was comfortably in the window to make the crucial stop without needing a further tyre change, Fernley said: "It was very on edge.

"Nobody in front of us followed suit, so it gave us the advantage.

"The core was to look at it from the point of view that it could be an exceptional result or if it went wrong it would probably be a good result.

"Hopefully we can carry it through to a good result in Austin and Mexico."
Fernley added he was "reasonably" confident the tyres would last, adding: "It was a long safety car so that helped, but it was marginal.

"Pitwall and driver, together they did a great job.

"That was teamwork, they are trying to guide him as best as possible within the limitations and Sergio as always delivered a fantastic result."

Perez's haul of 15 points meant Force India increased its lead over Lotus to 26 points in the battle for fifth in the constructors' championship.

"It has put some clear air between us and we need it because Lotus is a good team," said Fernley.

"It only takes a good weekend for them and we're under pressure again."


Autosport.com 

Perez in 'best moment' of his career

Sergio Perez believes his podium finish for Force India in the Russian Grand Prix proves he is in the best form of his Formula 1 career.

The Mexican made an early pitstop under the safety car for Romain Grosjean's heavy crash, then rose up the order as others stopped and he tried to nurse his soft tyres through three quarters of the Sochi F1 race.
Although Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, and Valtteri Bottas all overtook him, Perez moved back up to third when the two Finns collided on the final lap.

"If you look at my performance, you can see I'm going through the best moment in my career," said Perez.

"I was confident going into the race. I was not expecting a podium at all, but the race started quite well.
"When we had the second safety car, we were one of the few cars to box.

"At the restart I was stuck behind Felipe Nasr and [Felipe] Massa, so I decided together with my team to save my tyres and it worked really well.

"We have a lot of momentum with us and I hope we can maintain it through to the end of the year."

Though his strategy ultimately paid off, Perez admitted he was in no shape to fight with the faster cars that had pitted later as they attacked him.

"It was difficult to hold them back, Valtteri and Raikkonen," he said.

"At this stage, where my tyres were, I could not brake late because I was risking flatspotting them, so there was a certain level of risk I was able to take.

"I said 'OK, if it's not a podium, let's get the points'. Then they had contact and we came back, which is great."

FIRST-LAP ERROR SIDELINES HULKENBERG
Force India had started with both cars in the top 10 after Nico Hulkenberg and Perez qualified sixth and seventh, but the German spun on the first lap while attacking the Ferraris into Turn 2.

He was then collected by Max Verstappen and Marcus Ericsson, ending his race and the Sauber's immediately.

"Braking for the second corner, I locked the rear wheels which ultimately then made me spin into Turn 2," Hulkenberg explained.

"Standing in the middle of the track on lap one with the whole field behind you is not ideal.

"It was difficult for Ericsson to avoid me and we ran into each other and were stuck."

Ericsson described the collision was "very frustrating".

"One of those things when you're in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

"My start was really good, I was making up places down to Turn 2, focused on getting a good exit and then Nico was just there in the way."

Autosport.com 
 

Russian GP - Race - Force India Drivers quotes

Sergio Perez, 3rd
“It feels great to be back on the podium and to be able to celebrate with my team. I have been enjoying my time with the team so much and this is a great reward for all the work we have put in together. The call to pit under the safety car turned out to be very good because it gave us track position ahead of all the battles. With one lap to go, when Valtteri (Bottas) and Kimi (Raikkonen) passed me, it felt like this result had been taken from us: I was obviously disappointed but I also knew I had given all I could during the race. There was no more I could do because I had been on the same tyres for more than 40 laps. When I finally managed to get back into third it was just an amazing feeling. I am happy I was able to share this second podium with my team. It's a very special result and one that fills me with expectation ahead of the races in Austin and especially Mexico City.”

Nico Hulkenberg, DNF
“I didn't have the best of starts, but then I was able to pick the ideal line on the approach to turn two. Unfortunately, I locked the rears going into turn two and, when that happens, you just end up in a spin. I hoped the whole field would get past without hitting me but unfortunately Ericsson got stuck with me and I couldn't move away. The first lap is always a unique situation: I didn't brake any later, but with cold tyres it's really tricky and once the tyres locked there was nothing I could do to save it. It's always a pity to go out at the start and it's really frustrating because our pace seemed really good this weekend. I just want to move on and start thinking about the next race. At the same time I have to say well done to Checo because the podium is a great result for the team.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“We have to compliment the team on a great performance and a perfect strategy. Pitting Sergio under the safety car was an aggressive call, but it paid off. We knew we would be under pressure towards the end, but having track position was crucial and the events on the final lap vindicated our decision. Checo did a great job defending against Ricciardo first and Bottas later until the very final stages and then we had some good fortune on the final lap. The only blot on our copybook today was Nico's accident at the start. It was unfortunate but he will bounce back in Austin. Our recent run of form is testament to the great job we have done over the last few months and it’s incredibly satisfying to deliver on the potential we have shown with a podium. We're on target to consolidate our fifth position in the championship and that has to be our objective for the end of the season before we push hard to move forward next year.”

Formula1.com 
 

Rusian GP - Qualifying - Force India Quotes

Hulkenberg
 
“I’m very satisfied with sixth place today and our qualifying performance is a great team result. Even though we’ve had limited running here in practice, I’ve had a good feeling with the car – there is a nice balance and it’s giving me confidence. The result today is probably the maximum we could achieve when you look at the cars ahead of us and it means we’re starting in a great position for tomorrow. The race is going to be interesting because there are still some unknowns about how the tyres will behave over long runs and the strategy calls won’t be easy. I’m looking forward to the race and converting this grid position into some good points.”


Perez

“It's always tricky to get the car where you want it to be when you don't do much running in practice, but it's a good result for the team and I believe we got the most we could from the session. This is not an easy track to put a good lap together and getting the tyres to the right temperature is a challenge, so I think we can be pleased with this result. I set my best lap on used tyres, which shows that the supersoft tyres take a long time to reach their best. There are still a few question marks about the performance of the tyres during long runs, which will make it very interesting tomorrow, but I don't expect degradation to be very high. We have a very good chance to be competitive in the race; it will be a tough one but I’m confident we can come away from it with some big points.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“It was hard to separate our two drivers this afternoon with just four hundredths of a second between Nico and Sergio at the end of Q3. We knew coming into this weekend that we had the potential to get both cars inside the top ten and our performance today is another demonstration of just how competitive the VJM08 has become as the season has progressed. Getting the tyres in their correct operating window was a challenge today and considering the lack of mileage leading up to qualifying the team and drivers did a great job to optimise things as much as possible. What is important now is that we convert these promising starting positions into good points to strengthen our fifth place in the championship.”

Forceindiaf1.com 

Rusian Gp - Friday Practice - Force India Quotes

Nico Hulkenberg
FP1 - 1st, FP2 - no time
"It has not been the most adventurous day in the car. It's always frustrating when you have a big work plan and you can't go out, but it's the same set of conditions for everyone. Like in Suzuka two weeks ago, we finish Friday without having done much running, but that generally makes it more interesting and unpredictable for the rest of the weekend. The next two days are likely to be dry, so tomorrow morning's final practice will be crucial: we will need to learn and adapt quickly ahead of qualifying. We will need to squeeze a long run in during FP3 and do the necessary car and tyre set-up exploration. It will be a busy session, but at the same time it could generate an opportunity for us. It's going to be a big challenge for everyone."

Sergio Perez
FP1 - 4th, FP2 - no time
"The work we have done today is limited. The track conditions this morning were very poor so we ran a reduced programme. It wasn't easy to evaluate the set-up changes so we could not learn very much. Then, the rain arrived this afternoon and we only did a few laps. It means final practice tomorrow morning is going to be the most important practice session of all – just as it was in Japan. I still feel optimistic for the weekend and I think we have the potential to be competitive here."

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer
"The spillage of diesel on the track this morning and the wet afternoon session leave all the teams with limited knowledge ahead of what is expected to be a dry weekend. Despite the lack of mileage, both Nico and Sergio were quite happy with the baseline set-up of their cars, even though track conditions were less than ideal. The main focus now is to make sure we maximise our learning during final practice with a combination of short and longer runs, especially on the supersoft tyres, which we didn't manage to use today. On days like today we also have to make good use of our simulation tools because it's a circuit for which we have minimal information with only one previous event here."

Formula1.com 
 

Force India among 'quickest' in races

Bob Fernley says the fact his Force India Formula 1 team was among the quickest in the Japanese Grand Prix's final stages proves its B-spec car is a step forward.

Force India introduced a heavily-revised car at July's British GP and has since added parts at each of the subsequent races as it strives to optimise the package.

Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth at Suzuka, beating both Lotuses to ensure Force India stayed ahead of its rival in fifth in the constructors' championship.

"Like all cars, when you're constantly updating them, it's not a bad thing to run a stable car for a few races so that you can then optimise it," deputy team boss Fernley told Autosport.

"What I was encouraged about was our race pace. The last 10 laps of the race, we were two of the quickest cars on the track, I think we were only just behind Lewis [Hamilton].

"It is encouraging for Suzuka, which is normally a tough track for us historically but how it translates at other races is another thing.

"We had it under control all the way through. The biggest concern was starting behind both Lotuses - we had to get past both of them - and we did with one car."

SUZUKA PACE COMPARISON (Average over final 10 laps)
1. Lewis Hamilton 1m38.520s
2. Pastor Maldonado 1m38.727s
3. Nico Hulkenberg 1m38.750s
4. Sebastian Vettel 1m39.076s
5. Romain Grosjean 1m39.084s
6. Kimi Raikkonen 1m39.085s
7. Nico Rosberg 1m39.111s
8. Valtteri Bottas 1m39.118s





Analysis of the last 10 laps by AUTOSPORT appears to support Fernley's claim that Force India had one of the quickest cars in the closing stages - but there are some caveats.

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said after the race that the Scuderia turned Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen's engines down in the final stint.

Mercedes is likely to have run Nico Rosberg's power unit in a reduced mode given that he was in a safe second and needs to do five more races with the same engine if he is to avoid a penalty.

But as Hulkenberg crossed the line in clear air just over 20 seconds behind Williams's Valtteri Bottas and 16s clear of his nearest challenge Romain Grosjean, he too could have had his engine turned down.

The Mercedes, Ferraris and Bottas will also have caught traffic in the closing stages sooner than Hulkenberg and the Lotuses - but the data nonetheless goes some way to showing the step Force India has made.

Meanwhile, Fernley said the Silverstone-based team is still planning on introducing an upgrade for the upcoming Mexican GP, especially as it will prove useful for next year.

"We're working on it," said Fernley. "But there is no point putting something on unless it delivers something we want.

"Next year's car is an evolution of this year's car, so ideally we want to try and get the next upgrade on to do the validation before end of year so we have winter to work on next bit.

"Hopefully that can be Mexico - whether or not it is, we'll see."

Autosport.com