Force India relieved with qualifying after dismal FP3
Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix saw Sahara Force India's Nico Hulkenberg end the session in ninth place. Team mate Sergio Perez was hampered by a hydraulic issue on his car and qualified 13th.
Nico Hulkenberg, VJM07-04: “Considering our performance this morning in final practice, I think it’s a good effort by the whole team to make it through to Q3 this afternoon. The wind was affecting us quite badly, but fortunately the direction changed before qualifying and that seemed to help us. Then it was just a case of keeping calm, being nice and tidy with the laps and pushing the car as much as we could. For the race I’m feeling optimistic because our long-run performance looked reasonable yesterday and I certainly feel we can be in the battle for points. In order to make things work in our favour and beat our competitors, we need to be flexible with the strategy tomorrow as it’s usually difficult to overtake here.”
Sergio Perez, VJM07-02, 13th: “It was a difficult session with the main issue being the hydraulic leak that affected my car in Q2. It meant that I was only able to do one run before I had to park in the garage. Without this I think we had the potential to reach Q3, especially because we made a good step with the balance this morning. It’s a shame not to maximise our potential here on this track because it’s so difficult to overtake. It means we will have to try and make up the ground tomorrow with the strategy. I’m still feeling positive about the race because our speed on Friday during the long runs looked quite strong.”
Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director: “I’m pleased to see Sahara Force India through to Q3 with Nico ending the session in ninth place. Checo might have been up there too had it not been for the hydraulic problem on his car, which ended his challenge in the middle of Q2. It’s frustrating but hopefully we can recover the ground he lost through intelligent strategy tomorrow. We should have the pace to take the fight to the cars ahead of us. It’s expected to be hot and tyre management will be a priority once again. There’s also the possibility for more rain showers tomorrow.”
