FP1 & FP2 - Bahrain GP report: Force India Mercedes

Sahara Force India completed a busy programme of free practice today in preparation for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Nico Hülkenberg

“It was quite a straightforward Friday. This morning we did a few aero tests to continue our process of understanding the car and learning about it, exploring different ways to optimise our performance. Our mileage was good, so we should have plenty of data to analyse tonight. The afternoon session went quite smoothly as well: we were able to use both tyre compounds and completed short and long runs. We got all we needed from the session, so that we could skip the final run and save a bit of engine life. We have a fairly clear idea of where we stand and of our performance level, so tonight it will be a matter of tweaking our set-up to improve the balance and be more competitive tomorrow.”

Sergio Perez

"It’s been a good day for us, despite the final incident with Vettel. I was trying to overtake Nasr and, when I got to the apex of turn one, the gap I had on Sebastian was gone, as he had a car problem, and he made light contact with my right rear. After the session he came to see me and said he had an issue with the brakes. It was an unfortunate incident but nothing more than that. Before that moment, we had done a good job throughout the sessions and I feel we have made another step forward. We tried some different set-up options and we had the opportunity to make some big changes between the two sessions. We seem to be a bit more competitive compared to the previous couple of races, especially over the longer runs, but it’s too early to make any predictions.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal

“We split an extensive aero test programme between both cars in FP1, gathering lots of data to help us with the correlation of the car. This evening the focus moved towards the long run performance: trying different set-ups between the two cars to give us the information needed to ensure we have the best possible race car come Sunday. We now turn our attention to extracting more qualifying potential from the car and we have plenty of good data to analyse tonight.”