Force India starts off with well balanced cars
Sahara Force India began its preparations for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix with Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg completing busy free practice sessions at the Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve. Both drivers found their cars well balanced and are confident the in the remainder of the weekend.
Paul Di Resta, VJM05/02:
FP1: P11, 1:16.347, 32 laps
FP2: P5, 1:15.544, 32 laps
“The weather was a bit of a worry today with the constant threat of rain so we had a very busy morning and probably did more laps in FP1 than we normally would. The initial baseline of the car was good and we worked on improving things further with each run. By the end of the day I was very happy with the feel of the car in terms of balance. Of course the ambient conditions are expected to change overnight and we need to see how that impacts us tomorrow, but based on today’s performance I think we can target Q3 if everything comes together.”
Nico Hulkenberg, VJM05/03:
FP1: P6, 1:15.986, 29 laps
FP2: P8, 1:15.799, 39 laps
“I enjoyed both sessions and ended the day with a very positive feeling. The balance of the car is where we want it to be and the changes we made to during the lunch break seemed to take us in the right direction. There is still a lot of homework to do this evening and room to improve things further, but it’s been a good start to the weekend.”
Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer:
“A busy and productive day of practice in Montreal as we worked hard to dial the cars into this challenging circuit. Conditions were overcast all day with the threat of rain keeping us on our toes and forcing us to adapt our programme to make sure we came away with the data we needed. That was why Nico ran the super-soft tyres this morning, just in case the afternoon turned out to be wet, while Paul focussed on the softs. In the end the rain held off and we were able to run through a complete dry tyre programme with both cars. Another priority was to understand the brake and engine cooling requirements to make sure the solutions we have in place are adequate. So far we’ve been encouraged by our pace and the drivers’ feedback suggests the changes we made to the cars between the sessions have been positive.”
