FP1 & FP2 - Singapore GP report: Force India Mercedes

Sahara Force India had a productive Friday at the Marina Bay Circuit, clocking up more than 100 laps in preparation for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Nico Hülkenberg

“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

“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 & 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.”