Force India unsure what to expect
Sahara Force India made the most of damp weather conditions in Hockenheim as Nico Hulkenberg, Paul Di Resta and Jules Bianchi got the team’s preparations for Sunday’s German Grand Prix underway. It was however not easy with the changing weather conditions.
Nico Hulkenberg, VJM05/03:
FP1: P6, 1:17.599, 17 laps
FP2: P6, 1:28.495, 22 laps
“Another Friday practice where it was difficult to find a rhythm and get through the job list. In the morning the rain showers only gave us very limited time to run dry tyres, so I didn’t really get a feel for the hard development tyre. The track surface here is also very smooth and it was quite low grip this morning, especially with the damp parts of the track. With the rain showers this afternoon, all we could do was understand the wet and intermediate tyres in case the wet weather continues tomorrow.”
Paul Di Resta, VJM05/02:
FP1: Did not take part
FP2: P18,1:30.437, 14 laps
“A very short day for me with limited mileage in the wet. The track was drying up quite nicely towards the middle of the session and it was near to the crossover point for slicks until the rain returned. We’ve done our wet weather preparation so we just need to see what the weather brings tomorrow.”
Jules Bianchi, VJM05/02:
FP1: P16, 1:18.972, 21 laps
FP2: Did not take part
“It was not an easy morning session because of the rain showers, which meant we had to stop and wait for the track to dry. The rain was not heavy but it made the track very slippery. I did most of my laps on the medium compound tyres and I was improving lap by lap. I set my quickest lap on my final run when the track condition was at its best and I was able to get closer to the limit of the car.”
Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer:
“Conditions like we saw today always pose a great challenge as we try to dial the cars into the track and understand the tyres. Jules did a good job along with Nico this morning, although we had to reduce the programme and make sure we were out when the track was at its best. We still managed to pick up some aero data and completed our baseline dry set-up evaluation. The wet session this afternoon has given us a good read on the performance of the intermediates and the wets, but it was difficult to learn much more than that.”
