26 Oct 2012

Sahara Force India was back in action on home soil today as Nico Hülkenberg and Paul Di Resta completed a busy day of free practice at Buddh International Circuit.

Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02)
FP1:     P12      1:29.760            23 laps
FP2:     P11      1:28.004            32 laps

Paul: “It was not an easy session for me. The balance is still not perfect and we need to work hard tonight to try and improve that before final practice. The main issue of the day was the puncture I picked up half-way through FP2 because I missed out on my high-fuel run on the soft tyres. Also, it was hard to get a clean lap during my low fuel run because the track was so busy. We’ve got data with the other car but it would have been helpful to have run more laps and got a proper feel for the soft.”

Nico Hülkenberg (VJM05/03)
FP1:     P14      1.29.850            19 laps
FP2:     P8        1:27.233            37 laps

Nico: “It was my first experience of the Buddh circuit today and I have to say they have done a really nice job. There’s a good flow to the lap and the second sector is very technical and challenging. The programme for me today was quite straightforward because we managed to do everything we wanted. I completed a decent long run on the soft tyres this afternoon and I think we are quite well prepared going into tomorrow.”

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer
“The circuit was quite green this morning with very low grip so that made it difficult to learn too much. The priority was to get Nico up-to-speed quickly and pick up some data on a few test items, which all went to plan. The afternoon was less straightforward, largely because Paul picked up a puncture after his low fuel run on the soft tyres. That meant he missed out on his long run. Fortunately we got all the data we needed with Nico’s programme, but it certainly put Paul on the back foot. In terms of car balance we still have some work to do to get the car where we want it, but we have the data we need to make sure we can pick the right options for tomorrow.”

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