Plenty of potential after mixed first day for Force India
As with Williams, Force India substituted a young driver during FP1 and had them run plenty of laps to test new aero updates. But then this caught out Nico Hulkenberg who had to run in the rain during FP2. But the team feels that the car still has more potential once better set ups are found.
Sahara Force India completed a busy free practice programme in Budapest in preparation for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02)
FP1: P14 1:24.559 22 laps
FP2: P7 1:22.794 23 laps
“I think the most important thing today is that we managed to get some good information on some test items – which is something that has not been easy at previous races with the mixed weather. Even though it rained again this afternoon, we completed a lot of work before it arrived and have some useful set-up data going into the weekend. I managed to run on both the medium and soft compounds today, but we missed out on getting the long run data because of the rain.”
Nico Hülkenberg (VJM05/03)
FP1: Did not take part
FP2: P13 1:23.713 26 laps
“Quite a positive day overall, but like everybody we missed out on getting the long run data. Apart from that, I felt comfortable in the session and we got through most of the set-up programme. I went out towards the end on intermediates to get a feel for the wet conditions, but the track was drying very quickly so there was not too much to learn.”
Jules Bianchi (VJM05/03)
FP1: P18 1:25.715 26 laps
FP2: Did not take part
“Lots of laps for me today, which was useful and I’m getting more used to the car now. I started off by doing a lot of short runs so the team could evaluate some test items, then I did a couple of longer runs towards the end. It was difficult to find the limit and I was not totally comfortable with the car today, so I think there is some more laptime still to come. It’s always valuable to get time in the car on a race weekend and hopefully the team will learn a lot from the data.”
Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer
“We made the most of the dry morning session to run through a busy aero programme with Jules and gathered some useful data. He did a good job once again although we struggled to find the sweet spot with the car in the morning session. Nico was back alongside Paul for the afternoon and we focussed on fine-tuning the cars as well as understanding the tyres. It was a shame to lose the final half of the session to rain, but we made some progress with the car and have a good idea of the direction we need to take tomorrow.”
