22 Jul 2012

Sahara Force India picked up two hard-earned points in today’s German Grand Prix as Nico Hülkenberg finished in ninth place. Paul Di Resta just missed out on points in 11th. 

P9        Nico Hülkenberg (VJM05/03)
Tyre strategy: New soft, new medium, new soft, new medium

Nico: “We always knew it was going to be tough to hang on to fourth place because we did not look especially strong in the dry conditions on Saturday morning. But when you’re in that position you hope for the best and actually the first part of the race was strong for me and I had some good battles. In terms of strategy, doing three stops was the way forward because a two-stop race was not possible with the way the tyres were degrading. So it’s good to come away with some points but I was certainly hoping for a bit more from my home race.” 

P11      Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02)
Tyre strategy: New soft, new medium, new medium

Paul: “A tough race today and ultimately we didn’t have the pace to match teams like Lotus and Sauber. The story of the race was deciding whether to stop two or three times and with hindsight we probably could have been more aggressive. But it was hard to understand the tyres and we seemed to struggle for pace in the middle of each stint. I think we have the baseline speed in the car but we just couldn’t demonstrate it today and that’s why I missed out on points. Hopefully we can find the sweet spot next weekend before the summer break.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director
“Two important points scored today, but we were hoping for more considering our strong starting positions. We split the strategies with Nico stopping three times and Paul doing a two-stop race, and there was little to choose between them in the end. Both drivers battled hard, but it was difficult to defend on such an open track where it is easy to overtake. With today’s result we have moved within a point of Williams in the championship and hopefully we can continue our points run in Hungary next weekend.”

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Latest Comment

Friends don't worry. We all knew this year field is so close. One small mistake spoil everything. People are talking abt sauber dominating from all sides. The saubers tyre wear is good and they are good in strategy too. Hope FIF1 will come back strongly in Hungary.

Magesh 01:51 PM on July 24, 2012

It is really sad to see other car's moving ahead and VJM05 going back. Can we not have more Pace to VJM05 so that it can compete with at least Williams and Sauber

Praful 01:24 PM on July 23, 2012

It was wonderful race which I would say that Force India team has missed to capitalize the Grid position P4

Gnanavel Thamilvasan 12:05 PM on July 23, 2012

Best of luck sahara foce india for the next race. I want to see both the drivers in top 10.

Kaushik Fondekar 11:35 AM on July 23, 2012

I had it enough! Can't take it anymore, disappointing performance in all races.. Team have no idea, it is really hurting to see sauber dominating us on all sides.

Suman 06:19 AM on July 23, 2012

Its very tough race.I thought we would get some good points today as Nico started on 4th place.It's very unfortunate, happy to hear that at least we have got 2 points.I know its not very easy and team is really trying hard to get good points.I hope we would pick up more points in next races. All the best!!.

Mano5 12:21 AM on July 23, 2012

Hi Vijay, We split the strategies again? Why? 3 stops was the way to go for Paul. Are we not playing it too safe? Splitting the strategies in every other race is just making sure that only one of our driver gets it right!!! We are a good team, Just need to have more faith in our judgement. Expect more courage from the team representing 1.2 billion people. Best Luck.

11:17 PM on July 22, 2012

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