American GP - Force India Preview

Nico Hulkenberg
“The weekend in Austin is one of the coolest of the whole year. It’s an event that ticks all the boxes: the track is fun, the city is interesting and the people are great. There’s a brilliant atmosphere, which you can feel as soon as you land in the city, and I really enjoy going there.
“I think COTA is one of the best tracks among the recent introductions to the calendar – they did a superb job with the layout. Sector one is very quick, with a great flow and high speeds. The whole lap has a good rhythm and overtaking is possible so you usually see some great racing.
“Last year was a very weird race, with some crazy rain on Saturday. When you get really wet weather, it adds to the challenge, because you have to keep focus while waiting around for the sessions to restart. You need to switch off and then be able to switch on again, but that’s part of being a racing driver.”


Sergio Perez
“Before Mexico joined the calendar, Austin felt like a home race for me so I am always happy to go there, to be close to home and to be able to spend a bit of time with my family and friends at the circuit. I always have guests with me and there are so many fans who make the trip from Mexico to see the race in Austin.
“The city is really nice and you’re never short of things to do. The whole place comes alive at night and there are so many bars and restaurants to enjoy. Of course, being there to race means we do not really get the chance to go out much, but even going for a walk gives you an opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere and see all the fans. It’s a young city, with many students, and that gives it a nice vibe.
“The circuit is incredible. The facilities are impressive and once the racing starts the atmosphere is really cool. It’s quite different from your average Formula One environment and makes for a very welcome change.
“Turn one is very tricky: you get to the top of the hill and the apex is blind, so you can’t really see where you’re going or the best line into the corner. You take a leap of faith and just go for it, and if you hesitate it’s very easy to turn in too late and lose precious time. You just need to get your calculations right.
“There are many corners inspired by other tracks - you get hints of Monza in the big braking zones, a reminder of Silverstone in the fast corners and it makes for a very interesting lap. Last year’s weekend was very difficult, with the weather stopping us from doing much practice, but we came away with a good result in the end and hopefully we can score strongly again this year.”

Vijay Mallya, team principal
“Malaysia and Japan were positive races for us. We were close to maximising our potential at each of those events and that’s all we can do at this stage of the season. Sepang and Suzuka provide a tough test of a Formula One car and our strong form is a good sign for the races to come.
“We’re in the middle of a very busy spell for the sport with four races within a month. The motivation and belief in the team are high and the visit to North America is always a highlight of the year. At such a busy time, it’s important to keep focus: the margins between success and failure are very small and we need to perform at the top of our game in every area. I’m proud of the job we are doing and excited about the challenge ahead of us.”

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Hulkenberg Leaving Force India to join Renault

Nico Hulkenberg will switch from Force India to Renault in 2017 after signing a 'multi-year' deal with the French manufacturer.

Hulkenberg has spent four of the last five years with Force India, but will contest his final Grand Prix with the team in 2016's Abu Dhabi season finale. Force India had an option to keep the German on for 2017, but confirmed they would not stand in his way of joining a factory team.

"I’m very happy to join Renault Sport Formula One Team in 2017," Hulkenberg said. "Renault has always been a big player in the motorsport world that brings up incredible memories: in his stint with Renault [in their former guise as Benetton], Michael Schumacher not only helped make Germany an F1 nation, he also sparked my enthusiasm and fire for racing. As a part of the Renault family, I want to develop the car and write new success stories.

"It has always been my dream to work for a manufacturer team. F1’s new regulations will change the game and give our team a good opportunity. In the years to come, Renault will play a challenger role, which fits my approach to racing 100 percent. I can’t wait to become part of the family.

"For the remaining races this year, I will give my best for Force India to reach fourth place in the constructors' championship. This would be a great achievement for the whole Force India team, the biggest success in its history and a great end to a fantastic time there.

“I am grateful that Force India has given me the chance to take up this new opportunity.”
Renault Sport Racing chairman Jerome Stoll said Hulkenberg would help drive the team on to the next level.

"2017 will be the second season of Groupe Renault’s return as a manufacturer entry in Formula 1 and the next step in our journey," Stoll commented. "This season has been about putting the foundations in place for future success.

"For our next step we required an experienced driver who is still hungry for podiums. Nico Hülkenberg fulfils this role perfectly and is an excellent complement to what we want to achieve. He is a highly talented, dedicated and motivated driver. Nico will enable us to harness all the hard work completed this season and translate it to improved results on track in 2017 and beyond. We look forward to seeing him in our new car for 2017."

Force India team principal and managing director Vijay Mallya said the team would miss a driver of Hulkenberg's calibre, adding: "Everybody at Sahara Force India wishes Nico well as he embarks upon a different path in Formula One.

"Having spent five years with us, Nico has become a great friend and contributed a huge amount to the team’s success. He’s an outstanding driver, who has scored more points for this team than anybody else. While it’s true we will miss Nico, we respect his decision to explore fresh opportunities and it would be wrong to stand in his way.”

Having first broken into F1 with Williams in 2010, Hulkenberg is now one of the most experienced drivers on the grid - indeed only five drivers will have started more Grands Prix than him when the 2017 season gets underway.

He has finished in the points in more than half of the 111 races he has contested, and has also claimed one pole and led three races - although his wait for a first Grand Prix podium continues, with fourth - achieved on three different occasions - his best result.
Last year he won the Le Mans 24 Hours at his first attempt with Porsche.

Hulkenberg's move opens up a seat at Force India alongside Sergio Perez - with Manor's Pascal Wehrlein among those linked to the newly-available drive. At Renault, meanwhile, the likes of Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer are believed to be in contention to partner Hulkenberg.

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Japanese GP - Race - Force India Quotes

A great start by Perez propelled him up to third, a position he couldn't hold for long with faster cars coming through. Hulkenberg also jumped three places at the start, and the two cars remained in the top ten for the rest of the race. Hulkenberg pulled off one of the overtakes of the race, breezing past Bottas round the outside into the chicane. The German clearly enjoyed the move, with a cool "see you later"  expressed over the radio. 

Sergio Perez, 7th
“I enjoyed myself today and I feel we made all the right decisions during the race. The start was good fun – I had a clean run going into turn one and ended up in third place. I tried my best to hold on to the position, but I knew it would be difficult to keep some very quick cars behind me so I needed to be sensible and choose my battles. Our car was very quick today and the two-stop strategy was definitely the correct one for us. It meant we needed to overtake the Williams cars on the track because they were on a different strategy, but fortunately I could make the moves on them very quickly. The end of the race, after all the pit stops, was just a case of looking after the tyres and keeping out of trouble. We scored some very useful points today – we need to keep doing the same in the final four races.”

Nico Hülkenberg, 8th
“I am quite happy with my race: seventh would have been possible, but I paid the price of not having an ideal qualifying session yesterday. I had a good first lap, but when you start from the back of the top ten, you have a lot more traffic to deal with and that cost me some time. The pass on Valtteri [Bottas] was the highlight of my race. I had lined up a pass the lap before, but didn’t get a good exit from the final corner and I missed out in turn one; so I told myself “if I can’t get you here, I’ll get you at the chicane instead!” I pulled the move off nicely; it was a close wheel-to-wheel battle. It was important to finish with two cars well inside the points, but we know every race and every point will count from here onwards because the battle in the championship will go down to the final race. It’s going to be good fun and it’s a nice challenge.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“We leave Japan feeling satisfied with our performance across the whole weekend. We qualified well, which allowed us to execute the optimal two-stop strategy with both cars. Seventh and eighth was the most we could realistically hope to achieve given the reliability of the cars at the front of the field, so it’s rewarding to bring home ten important points. It was very enjoyable watching Checo and Nico involved in several close fights in the early laps. They pulled off some exciting moves – which were very important because they enabled the strategy to play out in our favour. With four races to go, we must maximise our potential at every event because there’s still a long way to the end of the season.”

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Japanese GP - Qualifying Force India Quotes

Both cars into Q3 at the expense of Williams means it is advantage Force India in the constructors' championship battle for fourth place. Perez was 'best of the rest' behind Ricciardo in seventh, whilst Hulkenberg struggled to put the perfect lap together and finished ninth.

  Sergio Perez, 7th, 1:31.961
“It was a very intense qualifying session and there were lots of competitive cars out there – I even finished with the same time as Romain [Grosjean] and I was lucky to be classified ahead of him. I am very happy about our performance, especially my lap in Q3: the margins are so tight around us and the smallest mistake makes the difference between starting seventh or twelfth, but today we did a really good job as a team. Starting one place ahead of where we qualified, because of Vettel’s penalty, puts us in a strong position for a good result tomorrow. If we have a normal race, with no strange circumstances, we can aim to score some important points. The strategy will depend on the weather conditions tomorrow, especially if it becomes much cooler than today. Overall I feel positive: we have done 70% of the job today, but the remaining 30% tomorrow is the most important.”

Nico Hulkenberg, 1:32.142
“I’m pretty happy with today and I’m starting in a good position tomorrow. My final lap in Q3 was looking really strong, but I lost a couple of tenths at the final chicane – it was okay going in, but I didn’t get the best exit from the corner. So maybe I could have been a little higher up the grid with a totally clean lap. We saw again today just how close things are in the midfield and I expect a big fight tomorrow. Track position is crucial here so it’s especially important to make the most of our starting positions with a clean start.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“I think our performance today is a fair reflection of the speed we have shown all weekend. Sergio and Nico delivered some excellent laps, especially in Q2, which were needed to ensure we progressed through to Q3. The lap times in the middle of the pack were incredibly tight and it’s satisfying to come away from the session with both cars inside the top ten. For tomorrow, we can approach the race knowing we have good race pace and the opportunity to score some useful points.”

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Japan GP - Friday - Force India Quotes

Force India found a good balance early on, and both drivers said they had solid, problem-free days.

Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:34.530, P7 FP2: 1:33.873, P7
“There’s not a huge amount to say really because it was a routine, standard day of practice. We just worked through the run plan with no dramas and collected all the information on the different tyre compounds. We looked competitive, but it’s only practice, so I would expect much tighter margins tomorrow when we get to qualifying. I’m feeling positive, though, because we’ve started well and I’m already pretty happy with the car balance.”

Sergio Perez - FP1: 1:34.767, P8; FP2: 1:33.570, P6
“It’s looking like a promising weekend based on our performance today. Of course, the track conditions were very good and you never know what the rest of the weekend will bring, but today everything was working well. We looked quite competitive in most conditions - on high and low fuel - and on all the tyre compounds. The set-up of the car was very good from the start of the day and we’ve not moved far away from this.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“It’s been a pretty straightforward and satisfying day of practice. The team achieved the objectives of the run plan, which included some test items split between the two cars. It was encouraging to see that our baseline set-up was not too far away from ideal and both drivers were pretty content with the feel of their cars by the end of the afternoon. Track conditions were very good today with relatively consistent track temperatures and very little wind to upset the cars. The programme included the usual combination of performance runs and long runs across the three tyre compounds, which means we have plenty of information to help our decisions overnight.”

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Perez to stay at Force India in 2017

Sergio Perez has confirmed that he is to stay at Force India in 2017, ending weeks of speculation about his future racing plans.

“I’m pleased to confirm that I will be racing with Sahara Force India in 2017 as the team and my supporters have concluded their agreements,” Perez said in a statement.

“I’m very happy with this team and I have a good feeling for the future. I’ve seen the progress we’ve made over last couple of years and I’m sure we have the potential to achieve even more going forward.

“The team knows me well and it’s important to have stability, especially with some big rule changes planned for next year. I’m excited for the rest of this season and for the challenge that awaits all of us in 2017.

“I thank all the team for believing in me and I will do my best repay their faith with points, podiums and hopefully wins.

"I also want to thank our Mexican partners, especially Telmex and Telcel, who have been supporting me since I was a young boy.

"They continue to play an important role in my journey through the sport."

In a separate message posted on social media, Perez thanked the other teams that had shown an interest in his services, adding "it flatters me incredibly and it pushes me to be strong and continue besting myself as a driver.”

The Mexican racer, who finished sixth in Malaysia on Sunday, is currently eighth in the drivers’ standings having scored 74 points. He has claimed two podiums in 2016, with both rostrum finishes also netting him Driver of the Day honours. 

Perez's confirmation alongside Nico Hulkenberg means that Force India will field an unchanged line-up for the fourth successive season in 2017. 

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Japan GP - Force India Preview

Vijay Mallya, Team principal
“We head to Suzuka off the back of a very strong weekend in Sepang. Scoring twelve points strengthened our fourth place in the championship and showed, once again, that the VJM09 is a car that is competitive on any kind of circuit. I think we were a little unlucky with how the race unfolded, but we made the most of the situation and came away with some important points. It means we can arrive in Suzuka confident of another competitive performance. The team is working extremely hard, the drivers are extracting the performance from the car, and we are looking forward to the challenge that awaits us this weekend.”
Nico Hulkenberg
“Suzuka is one of my favourite tracks - it's just got a great flow. You go from one corner straight into to the next and it's a proper old-school track; it's so much fun to drive, especially in qualifying when you have low fuel, soft tyres and lots of grip. You have some high-speed sections, but the main feature is the great rhythm you get as you drive through the lap.
“The track has several great corners: the best section is the Esses, which are pretty cool and so quick - it's three or four corners at once. They're all hooked up, so if you make a mistake in one you can just forget about the rest, you've already lost so much time.
“The other highlight of the Japanese weekend is the fans. They are incredible: it doesn’t matter what time of day it is, or what the weather is doing, they are there outside the hotel or at the track waiting for you. It's great to see their passion and knowledge for our sport. They always bring us presents - most often candy, but I once got a very cute teddy koala bear!”
Sergio Perez
“The trip to Japan is always good fun and every year I try to visit Tokyo for a few days ahead of the race. It’s one of the greatest cities in the world and I love to explore it: the Japanese culture is very interesting and I really like their food! I always have a good time there.
“Once you get to Suzuka, things are much quieter: the city is small but the circuit is spectacular, it’s the real attraction. The fans are also brilliant – there are very few in the world who can match their enthusiasm. Some are very loyal: there’s one Japanese fan, who always waits for me when I am leaving the track or leaving the hotel, and I always make sure I stop for a photo. As a whole, they are very knowledgeable and passionate and are one of the highlights of the weekend.
“The circuit is a huge challenge and it’s unforgiving. The speeds are high and the best part, for me, is sector one – it’s so impressive. Suzuka is without any doubt one of the best tracks in the world. You need a car that is balanced enough for you to feel completely at ease with it. The other thing to remember is the crosswinds because it can often by very windy there. One lap you can have the perfect balance and the next it can be thrown off by a gust of wind.
“It’s a track I like and where I have enjoyed some good results – it’s definitely one of the weekends I enjoy the most. Sadly, every time we go there we are reminded of Jules’s tragic accident.”

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