28 Oct 2012

Sahara Force India secured four important points on home ground today as Nico Hülkenberg finished the Indian Grand Prix in a strong eighth place. Teammate Paul Di Resta made up four places in the race to finish in P12, ensuring a two-car finish in the team’s home race. 

P8           Nico Hülkenberg (VJM05/03)
Tyre strategy: New soft, new hard

Nico: “I’m very happy with the result today and I think eighth was about the maximum that was possible. It was a great team performance and I’m feeling satisfied with what we achieved today. At the start I didn’t get the best getaway, but I had a good first lap and was able to overtake Rosberg on the back straight and Maldonado going into turn four. The middle part of the race was quite lonely for me because I was running in clean air, but towards the end Grosjean was very close behind me and pushing me hard. But I didn’t crack under the pressure, I kept him behind and we made the one-stop strategy work. You could really feel the support for the team today in the grandstands and it’s great that we could score points for them.”

P12         Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02)
Tyre strategy: New soft, new hard

Paul: “It was quite a tough afternoon, but I think that we achieved all we could from the race because I couldn’t get any more out of the car today. I drove as hard as I could and was pushing all the way. We were in the hunt battling with Rosberg and Senna, but I didn’t really get close enough to challenge them. To be honest I’ve struggled to find the ideal balance with the car all weekend. We identified a few issues in the data last night, but they carried over into the race. I’m pretty sure the team can get on top of them and be more competitive when we get to Abu Dhabi next week.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director
“I’m delighted to see Sahara Force India score points at our home race – for the second year in a row. After qualifying we knew we had a big task ahead of us, but Nico rose to the challenge and raced well to finish in eighth place. It’s a very satisfying result and it means we have scored points in the last six races – that’s every race since the summer break. These are important points for our fight in the constructors’ championship and we will continue to push very hard in the remaining three races. Paul also battled hard in the race, moving up four places, but it was difficult for him to challenge for points in the end. Overall it’s been another great Indian Grand Prix. The circuit is a magnificent venue for motor racing and the Buddh International Circuit has once again delivered a fantastic event which we have all enjoyed immensely.”

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