Qualifying - Hungarian GP report: Force India Mercedes

Sahara Force India will line up in P11 and P13 for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix with Nico Hulkenberg one row ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.

Nico Hülkenberg

“It’s been quite a difficult weekend for the team, but I have to give credit to the way they have handled the situation and fixed it. The main penalty of yesterday was losing the track time and maybe with more set-up time we would have been able to make it through to Q3 today. The other key factor in the qualifying session was the red flag, which caught me out because I was on my first quick lap and had to abort it. So I only had one lap to get the job done and I just missed out by two hundredths of a second. Despite the limited track time, I feel quite happy and confident in the car, and I think we can perform well tomorrow. Points are still an achievable target.”

Sergio Perez

“It hasn’t been the easiest of weekends so far. I was very optimistic on Friday, before the accident, but what happened has affected us quite a lot. We have lost some of the new upgrades that we had brought to the race – parts that were working really well and were making a big difference. When we got back out on track this morning, I wasn’t particularly happy with the aero balance of the car, which has been quite unpredictable. Hopefully looking at the data tonight will help us figure out a way to fix it ahead of the race. Despite these challenges, I am still optimistic we can have a good race and fight our way into the points.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer

“I think we can be satisfied with P11 and P13 on the grid, especially after the events of Friday and the general lack of mileage. Everyone in the team has done a fantastic job over the last 24 hours to understand and solve the suspension issues we experienced yesterday and put the necessary solutions in place. Equally, the task of rebuilding Sergio’s car required a huge effort from the mechanics in the garage and, as always, they did a magnificent job without breaking the curfew. Nonetheless, we have been on the back foot today and that’s probably cost us a few positions on the grid. We’re still reasonably well placed and we expect the car to be competitive tomorrow. It would be good to end the first half of the season with some more points to consolidate our fifth place in the constructors’ championship.”