Japanese GP post race: Lotus

29/09/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Force India, Japanese Grand Prix, Lotus F1, Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, Romain Grosjean Leave a comment

Lotus F1 completed a strong Japanese Grand Prix with both cars finishing in the top eight for the first time since the Indian Grand Prix in 2013. Grosjean took seventh, with Maldonado finishing just 1.3 seconds behind him in eighth. Grosjean started from P8 on the grid on his qualifying medium compound tyres. He changed to scrubbed mediums on lap 11 and new hards on lap 33. Maldonado started from P11 on new medium tyres, changing to new mediums on lap 12, and new hards on lap 36.

Romain Grosjean, P7, E23-04:
“We finished with both cars in the points so I’m definitely happy with that! When it came to my own race we were a little bit slow against the Force India. We tried to fight Nico Hulkenberg but couldn’t. I really struggled with the tyres at the end – it seems the new Pirelli limits hurt us more than our rivals so we’ll work around that for the next race. Overall though, we’ve had a good result as a team.”

Pastor Maldonado, P8, E23-03:
“It was a good race for us and we really deserved a happy result today after pushing hard all weekend. It’s a shame we weren’t able to keep Hulkenberg behind us so we’ll review the strategy and performance to see if there was more we could have done. The team has been united all weekend, we scored some nice points and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal:
“It’s a great result for all of the team after a reasonably challenging weekend. It just goes to show that you can never discount an Enstone team no matter what the circumstances. We have to say thank you to all the crew at the track for working through a slightly unusual situation as well as thank you to Bernie for his help behind the scenes. We’re looking forward to continuing to fight back in Sochi.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“It’s great to get both cars solidly in the points and score more than our immediate championship rivals Force India and Toro Rosso. Force India looked stronger than us in the race and we didn’t have the pace to match Hulkenberg today. It was nevertheless a good performance from both drivers and the entire team.”

Romain Grosjean

Hulkenberg re-signs for Sahara

02/09/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Dr Vijay Mallya, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 Leave a comment

The man may have won Le Mans but he’s still got the bug for F1 it seems even though the wiggle room for 2016 seats is a bit tight. Hulkenberg is now on a two-year contract extension which means he’ll race in the team’s colours until at least the end of the 2017 season.

Nico Hulkenberg: “I’m very pleased to finalise and announce my plans for the future. I know this team inside out and I feel at home here so it made perfect sense to make a long-term commitment. The progress the team has shown over the last two years has really impressed me and gives me confidence for the future. It’s a great group of people who are hungry for success and want to keep improving year-on-year. I think we have the important things in place going forward and I want to continue growing with this team as we move even further up the grid.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “I make no secret of being one of Nico’s biggest fans and so it’s fantastic to confirm him as our driver for the next couple of seasons. He has spent almost four years with us already and in that time we’ve seen him develop into one of the best racing drivers in the world. Nico has the speed, the technical knowledge and the maturity to help us achieve some great results in the years ahead. We will do everything we can to continue delivering a car to match his talent.”

Belgian GP post race: Sahara Force India

31/08/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Belgian Grand Prix, fifth place, loss of power, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Sergio Perez (and below)

The team scored 10 points today as Sergio Perez raced to fifth place in the Belgian Grand Prix. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg was unable to take the start following a loss of power on the parade lap to the grid.

P5 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: Used Softs (8 laps) – Used Softs (12 laps) – New Mediums (23 laps)
“Fifth place and ten points is a good result, but we just lacked the pace to really fight for the podium today. My start was very strong and I was close to taking the lead on lap one when I was alongside Lewis (Hamilton) after Eau Rouge. I settled into a good rhythm, but we had very high degradation on the soft tyres in the first two stints. It was a bit better on the medium, although we struggled in the middle sector with our low downforce set-up and that hurt my pace. We were racing some quick cars and it was hard to fight off Grosjean and Kvyat, so it’s clear we need to analyse our performance and see where we can improve. I’m already looking forward to the next race in Monza, which is another track where I think we can be competitive.”

DNF Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Used Softs (-)
“It’s disappointing to finish your race before it’s even started, but sometimes these things happen in racing. On the way to the grid I just felt a loss of power. We tried to understand and fix the problem on the grid, but it came back during the formation lap. There were a few moments when the power returned, but it disappeared again just before the start and I had to retire. It’s a real shame because the car has been very quick this weekend and we had a good opportunity to score some important points.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director:
“We leave Belgium with mixed feelings after what turned out to be a very eventful race. Sergio delivered a battling performance and extracted all he could from the VJM08. He was able to challenge for the podium positions at the start of the race and to finish with a fifth place, his best result of the year so far, confirmed the good pace he has shown all weekend. He didn’t put a wheel wrong all day and was able to keep some very competitive rivals behind with an intelligent and defensive drive. There are many regrets about what could have been had Nico had a clean weekend. Unfortunately, he suffered a loss of power on the way to grid and we were unable to rectify the problem before the start. It’s something we will thoroughly investigate with Mercedes. It’s a shame as he would have surely had a competitive race. The battle for fifth in the championship remains open and we’re already looking forward to the next round at Monza to reclaim the position.”

Austria post race: Sahara Force India

23/06/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: championship, Force India, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Nico Hulkenberg

Sahara Force India scored 10 points in today’s Austrian Grand Prix as the team moved up to fifth place in the Constructors’ championship.

P6 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Strategy: Used SuperSofts (25 laps) – New Softs (46 laps)

Nico Hulkenberg: “I’m very satisfied with sixth place today. Going into the race we always knew it would be difficult to keep the Williams of Bottas behind me, so bringing the car home in sixth was probably the maximum we could achieve. I had some good wheel-to-wheel battles with him and we swapped places a few times, but it was hard to match their absolute pace. Overall it’s been a great weekend: I found a nice rhythm and I have been very happy with the performance of the car. With Checo in the points as well, it’s been an excellent weekend for us and we can be proud of what we’ve achieved. It’s an important boost ahead of Silverstone where we hope to make another step forward.”

P9 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: New Softs (38 laps) – New SuperSofts (32 laps)

Sergio Perez: “It is a great result for the team to come away with so many points. We’ve moved up to fifth in the championship and that’s an incredible effort by everyone in the team. I had a great start and first lap: the target was to get ahead of Maldonado as he was the first driver on the prime tyre and we managed to do that. In the first stint I had a lot of pressure from both the Lotus drivers, but we held strong and the race was looking really good. Unfortunately, we lost some time in a slow pit stop and it was a bit difficult to recover after that, especially as that placed us behind Ericsson and Nasr. The second stint was not very easy because I had some very strong vibrations on the front tyres and that cost me some pace. All in all, considering our position on the grid, it was a good race. I think we could have been a couple of places ahead if everything had gone to plan, but it’s still a good result.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal:
“To come away from Austria with ten more points and fifth place in the championship is a tremendous result. We’ve shown good pace all weekend and it’s very satisfying to convert that speed into valuable points. Nico drove a very clean and tidy race, and realistically it would have been difficult to have finished higher up the order. The same is true for Sergio who was on the opposite strategy to Nico, but made the progress he needed in the early laps on the soft tyres. Despite a slightly lengthy pit stop he was able to recover to ninth place and pick up a couple of points. It means that we remain very well placed ahead of our local race at Silverstone where we plan to introduce the next step for the VJM08.”

Sergio Perez

Canada post race: Sahara Force India

22/06/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Sergio Perez

Sahara Force India scored four points in today’s Canadian Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg raced to eighth place ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in P11.

P8 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Strategy: Used SuperSofts (28 laps) – New Softs (41 laps)

Nico Hulkenberg: “I am very happy to come away from here with four points – that’s definitely some positive news. It was not the most eventful race and I was by myself most of the time, except for the battle with Sebastian (Vettel). In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have tried so hard to defend against Seb, but when you’re a racer you just don’t want to give up a position without a fight. He took the outside line, I was on the inside, braking on the dirt and the marbles. I could see it coming but he didn’t leave me anywhere to go so to avoid contact I kept braking, lost the rear and spun. Fortunately I was able to get going and didn’t lose too much time. Overall it’s been a positive weekend: we keep finding good performance from our VJM08 and the team is pushing hard to find more speed. We’ve had a good run in the last few races, with Checo scoring in Monaco and my points today. It means we are making good progress and we’re closing in on fifth in the championship, so the second half of the season should be very interesting.”

P11 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: Used SuperSofts (24 laps) – New Softs (45 laps)

Sergio Perez: “It was a tough race today and I just didn’t have enough pace to finish in the points. In the first stint I was suffering with a lot of understeer and couldn’t really attack the cars ahead of me. The main battle was against the Red Bulls and I managed to get ahead of Ricciardo, but it was hard to match the pace of Kvyat. Towards the end of the race I had to save the tyres, the brakes and fuel, so I just had to make sure I brought the car home.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal:
“It’s encouraging to see another strong performance from the VJM08 and to come away from Montreal by adding four more points to our tally. Nico has been impressive all weekend and eighth place is a well-deserved result following an excellent drive. Sergio just missed out on the points, but he wasn’t particularly happy with the car balance and in such a straightforward race there were no opportunities to use the strategy to our advantage. The points’ standings in the midfield are very tight and we are just a couple of points adrift of fifth place. The whole team has worked extremely hard to extract performance from the VJM08 and we are optimistic of adding more speed in the races to come. So there’s plenty to look forward to as we approach the middle of the season.”

Nico Hulkenberg

Monaco post race: Sahara Force India

24/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Monaco, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez, Vijay Mallya Leave a comment

Sergio Perez

Dr. Vijay Mallya (IND) Sahara Force India F1 Team Owner on the grid. Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 24th May 2015. Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Dr Vijay Mallya, Sahara Force India F1’s team owner on the grid.

The team scored six points today as Sergio Perez raced to seventh place – securing his first points finish on the streets of Monaco. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg recovered to P11 after being pushed into the wall by Fernando Alonso on lap one of the race.

P7 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: Used SuperSofts (36 laps) – New Softs (28 laps) – Used SuperSofts (14 laps)
“I’m very happy right now. As a team we’ve done a fantastic job all weekend and seventh place is the result of all this hard work. For me it was a normal race – very straightforward and quiet, which is strange for Monaco. I was racing on my own for most of the race because the cars ahead were able to pull a gap on me and I had space to the cars behind. It was difficult to keep concentration for 78 laps, but after the safety car I was on fresh supersoft tyres and it was really good fun. I was able to attack Kimi (Raikkonen), but there wasn’t an opportunity to get the position. It’s a very important result for the whole team and gives us six points for the championship. It means I’ve scored points in half the races this season, which shows we’ve done a good job of maximising our opportunities.”

P11 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Strategy: New Softs (1 lap) – New SuperSofts (30 laps) – New Softs (47 laps)
“My race was obviously very difficult right from the start: Fernando (Alonso) more or less pushed me into the wall on the first lap and from that moment I basically had to play catch up. I knew he was there so I left him a bit more space and turned in later, but he must have locked up as he crashed into me and sent me straight into the wall. The only damage was to the front wing, but getting back to the pits and changing the wing cost me a lot of time. My race was already compromised then – it is not easy to race from so far back because you have to let the leaders through and you’re on the back foot the whole time. In terms of pace I was doing quite well, especially when in clean air, but obviously getting lapped costs you a lot of time. It is a shame as I feel that without the incident I would have been well into the points today. I still take encouragement from our pace and hopefully we can maximise the next weekend in Canada and get some more points.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
“Monaco always gives us an opportunity to shine and seventh place for Sergio is a fantastic result for the team. We did most of the hard work yesterday in qualifying and Sergio delivered a faultless performance this afternoon. He should be very proud of scoring his first points in Monaco. I feel very disappointed for Nico who was unlucky to be hit by Fernando. He had similar pace to Sergio and would surely have scored good points as well. With six points we have moved up to sixth in the championship. The team is doing a tremendous job and the result today helps keep the pressure on the teams around us.”

Team pit stop.

Monaco qualifying: Force India

23/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Monaco, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Nico Hulkenberg

Sahara Force India showed well on the streets of Monaco with Sergio Perez qualifying in seventh place – the team’s best starting position of the year so far. Nico Hulkenberg progressed to Q2 and qualified P13 (but he’s expected to start from P11).

P7 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Q1: 1:17.376 Q2: 1:16.999 Q3: 1:16.808
“I’m really happy and excited with seventh place today. I always say qualifying in Monaco counts for 90% of your final result, so it was important to be strong. To be quick here you need confidence in the car and in yourself, and I had both today. To make it through to Q3 was already a great effort by the team, but to be starting P7 means we have already done a lot of the hard work for the race. We went out early in Q3 because we thought the rain was coming and I had a mega lap. I was worried some of the others might improve their times, especially with the track evolution, but fortunately it was not the case. Tomorrow we have a good opportunity to score some important points. We know that anything can happen on a Sunday in Monaco, but I’m focused on getting a clean start and a good first lap.”

P13 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Q1: 1:17.552 Q2: 1:17.193
“My final lap was a very good one and I believe I could have been firmly in the top ten, but unfortunately I made a small mistake in the final corner, which cost me enough time to miss out on Q3. Obviously it is disappointing, especially knowing how important your starting position is here. I am likely to be 11th on the grid, which means we will need to choose the right strategy to try and make up some positions. If we make the right calls tomorrow, we should be able to get some points. The brush with the wall in Q1 didn’t do any damage but it cost a lot in terms of rhythm: you spend a long time trying to get the right confidence around Monaco and an incident like this sets you back a little. Qualifying in Monaco is always a challenge, but one I really enjoyed. The car feels much better than it did in Barcelona and we seem to have more performance in our hands which is encouraging. Nevertheless, I expect a tough race where good tyre management will be especially important.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
“Today’s strong performance in qualifying is an important boost for the team. Sergio’s laps were competitive right from the off and he had the confidence to extract every fraction of a second from the car. It’s an important result because track position is essential around here. Nico also looked on course for a top ten qualifying position, but fell just short of the mark: it is proof of how competitive the midfield is at the moment that one small mistake can cost so many positions on the grid. Nonetheless, both drivers seemed happy with the car and this gives us confidence for tomorrow. Overtaking is hard on this track, but as this team has shown in previous years it can be done. With an aggressive strategy we should be able to target points for both cars.”

Sergio Perez

Barcelona post race: Sahara

10/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: New Mediums, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Sergio Perez leads team mate Nico Hulkenberg.

Today’s Spanish Grand Prix saw Sergio Perez finish in P13 ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg in P15.

P13 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: New Mediums (19 laps) – New Hards (17 laps) – New Mediums (29 laps):
“Considering where I qualified, we probably maximised our race today. Maybe a three-stop strategy would have been a little bit better, but it wouldn’t have made much difference in the end. My last stint was really on the limit – nearly 30 laps on the same set of mediums – but we managed them well and I was able to control Ericsson who was putting pressure on me. Once again we showed today that our car is more suited to Sundays, so if we can improve our qualifying pace we can definitely fight for points at the next few races.”

P15 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Strategy: New Mediums (10 laps) – Used Mediums (16 laps) – New Mediums (23 laps) – New Hards (16 laps):
“It was always going to be difficult to score points today, especially on a track where it’s so difficult to overtake. I was always stuck behind other cars and, even with better pace, you lose too much performance running in the dirty air. My three-stop race was the more aggressive approach, but we didn’t have the track position to make the most of it. Maybe things would have worked out better if I had run in some clean air, but points were too far away today. Hopefully we can be more competitive in Monaco. It’s often an unusual race and we will have completely different tyre compounds, which should suit us better.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal:
“I think we can be content with today’s race despite finishing outside the points. Our pace was more convincing than our qualifying performance, which allowed us to battle against the Saubers and McLarens, but anything more was just outside our reach. We chose early on to split the strategies so that we had the opportunity to make the most of any unexpected developments, but as the race was fairly uneventful, both drivers ended up pretty much in the same place. The main regret is the amount of time Nico lost behind Maldonado in the middle of the race, which again proved how difficult it is to overtake here – even with a tyre advantage and DRS. Looking at the championship table, we are only eight points adrift of fifth place, and we are now one step closer to our big upgrade package, which is encouraging for everyone in the team.”

Sergio Perez on the grid.

Nico Hulkenberg with Otmar Szafnauer, Sahara Force India F1’s Chief Operating Officer.

Sergio Perez with yet another interview on the grid.

China post race: Sahara Force India

12/04/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: New Mediums, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez, Used Softs Leave a comment

Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg in the VJM08.

Sahara Force India just missed out on points today with Sergio Perez finishing the Chinese Grand Prix in P11. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg retired on lap 10.

P11 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: New Softs (11 laps) – New Softs (15 laps) – Used Softs (15 laps) – New Mediums (14 laps)

Sergio Perez: “We raced very hard today, but in the end it wasn’t quite enough to come away with some points. With the strategy we looked at all the opportunities and switched to three stops quite early in the race, which was the right decision. I was able to push hard all the time with the aggressive strategy and fight with the cars ahead of me. In the final part of the race I was catching Ericsson, but he was just too far ahead to make up the ground. We are still not where we want to be in terms of competitiveness, but there are definitely some positives to take because we made an improvement compared to our performance in Malaysia.”

DNF Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Strategy: New Softs (10 laps)

Nico Hulkenberg: “It is disappointing to end the race early, especially considering our previous record of solid reliability. It would have been interesting to see how our race would have developed because I made some good progress on the opening lap when I went around the outside of a few cars and then got a good run at Kvyat, which put me up in P12. We had the pace to keep up with the Toro Rossos and Saubers, so it was positive to see our pace being more competitive. It is still too early to say what caused my retirement: the engineers are looking at the issue and still investigating. All we know at this stage is that I lost drive and had to park the car.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: “We leave China with mixed feelings after a busy race. Sergio performed really well and was unlucky not to see his performance rewarded with a point. He was in a number of battles and was able to compete on more or less an equal footing with some of our direct rivals, which offers an encouraging view for the coming races. It was a shame to lose Nico due to a technical issue, especially as he had made very good progress in the first part of the race. Like Sergio, he was showing some really good pace and it would have been interesting to see where he would have finished had he continued. Throughout the weekend, there have been some encouraging signs regarding our performance and we can build on these as the development of the VJM08 continues.”

Sergio Perez.

Melbourne post race: Sahara Force India

15/03/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: New Mediums, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Nico Hulkenberg leads team mate Sergio Perez.

Sahara Force India scored seven points in today’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix with Nico Hulkenberg racing to seventh place and Sergio Perez picking up the final point in tenth.

P7 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Tyre strategy: New Softs (21 laps) – New Mediums (23 laps) – Used Softs (13 laps)

Nico Hulkenberg: “I am very pleased with today’s result and starting the season with two cars in the points is always positive. It was a good race; I didn’t make any mistakes and, while the reliability of our car helped us take advantage of the problems of others, at this stage in the season it is important to capitalise on any opportunity. We were ready when it counted; we had a good strategy and we delivered under the pressure. In terms of performance we are not yet where we would like to be, but everyone is working really hard to get there and make our car quicker. With points on the board we can now look forward to Malaysia in a couple of weeks and hopefully take another step forward.”

P10 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Tyre strategy: New Mediums (38 laps) – New Softs (19 laps)

Sergio Perez: “It was one of those unusual races where so many things happened, but I’m certainly happy to come away with a point and see Nico also score good points for the team. We went for a different strategy compared to Nico to maximise the team’s chances so I started on the medium tyres in order to have the advantage on the softs at the end of the race. Unfortunately, after the safety car the FIA asked me to give a place back to Ericsson, which also meant dropping behind Button, and that was really painful for my race. Button was on the soft tyres and, although I was quicker, it was not easy to overtake and I lost a lot of track position. Still, I’m focusing on the positives of scoring a point from a difficult race, which is a good result for the team.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “A double points finish is a positive way to start the season and a reward for all the hard work everyone in the team produced over the winter. In a race with high attrition, we made the most of the reliability of the VJM08, which at the moment is one of our strengths. Nico completed an excellent race, without putting a wheel wrong from lights to flag; he looked in control and we were never in doubt he would score well today. Sergio had an eventful race, recovering from contact and a spin early on: he made the most of his ability to manage the tyres with a very long stint and was able to score a point. Unfortunately, Sergio had to relinquish the positions he made at the start, otherwise he would have been very close to Nico. Still, it is always good to start a season with two cars in the points and we can leave Melbourne feeling positive.”

Sergio Perez.

Pre-season test: Day 2

28/02/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Lotus F1 Team, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, Sahara Force India F1, Valtteri Bottas, Williams F1 Leave a comment

The new Sahara Force India VJM08 made its bow at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Nico Hülkenberg completing a total of 77 laps.

Nico Hülkenberg #27
Chassis: VJM08-01
Laps: 77 laps
Mileage: 358km
Fastest lap: 1:28.412
Classification: P9 of 9

Nico Hülkenberg: “It was a very good day, at least in terms of the running we managed to do. We were able to run reliably straight out of the box and that is very encouraging. The boys and girls at the factory and here at the track have been pushing really hard in the last couple of weeks and to do 77 laps in little more than one afternoon is a remarkable job by the team. Obviously we still have a big task ahead of us and we are playing catch-up in certain aspects, but I am quite satisfied so far. The car feels pretty good, although making a direct comparison with our 2014 car is not easy as the conditions in winter testing are always very particular. One of our team’s strengths is to learn about the car quickly, so we will need to get as much data as possible to get in a good position for Melbourne.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer: “It has been a real big effort from all the staff back at the factory to get the car ready and out here for this test. Managing to run our installation laps before the lunch break was very useful and helped us achieve a solid first day with the VJM08. These are the very early stages of the VJM08’s running and it is encouraging to get 77 laps on the board: we could have got even more mileage had it not been for the red flags at the end of the day. Today was all about achieving a first understanding of the new car and to run this long allowed us to collect a sizeable amount of very valuable data.”

Williams

Driver: Valtteri Bottas
Chassis/Engine: FW37-01/PU106B hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Objectives: Aero work and race procedure
Weather: Warm and Dry
Air and track temps: 8 – 17ºC / 11 – 26ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test and Support Engineer: “We started the day doing some aero work comparing data and driver feel. We then moved on to a few performance based runs. Later in the day we worked on race procedure including some longer runs and grid simulations. We have had some new components that have performed as expected which has been productive. We have a busy final two days of the test as we optimise the time left until the first race.”

Valtteri Bottas: “It was nice to focus on performance today and work to get the lap times lower. We are working hard and still have two days left of the test so there is more still to do. The day was busy and we know there is still more to come, I feel positive and the balance was good. We still need to make sure we look at the longer runs and not just the one lap qualifying pace.”

Lotus

Pastor Maldonado completed a tally of 140 laps – more than 650km or the distance of two Grand Prix – as he resumed test duties in the E23 hybrid at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today. Pastor ran an extensive programme including a race simulation, clocking a best lap time of 1min 26.705secs.

Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E23-02
Weather: Blue skies with picturesque clouds. Ambient 9°C – 17°C Track 13°C – 24°C
Programme: Front suspension geometry evaluation, race simulation, aero assessments
Laps Completed: 140
Classification: P6, 1:26.705
Interruptions: None

Pastor Maldonado: “We ran the car for a long time today which has been a good endorsement of my winter training programme as I still feel fresh after 140 laps. We did a lot of different assessments so I had plenty to think about and it was good to do the race simulation as we’ll soon be heading to Melbourne. There’s a lot of information to digest from today and I can’t wait to get back in the car on Sunday.”

Nick Chester, Technical Director: “We’ve completed a high tally of laps today and the E23 has run reliably throughout. This is great for us as we’ve been able to try a number of different set-up and aero configurations to enable us to get as much data as possible to make further progress in our understanding of our new car. Pastor did a great job despite driving the equivalent distance of more than two Grand Prix and we’re looking forward to Romain jumping back into the car tomorrow.”

Barcelona tests: Day 4

22/02/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Barcelona, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Lotus F1 Team, Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean, Sahara Force India F1, Williams F1 Leave a comment

Nico Hulkenberg (and below)

Sahara Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg clocked his first miles of 2015 in the final day of testing in Barcelona, completing 36 laps on a windy and chilly day at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Nico Hulkenberg #27
Chassis: VJM07-02
Laps: 36 laps
Mileage: 168 km
Fastest lap: 1:26.591
Classification: P8 of 9

Nico Hulkenberg: “It was a very nice sensation to be back in a Formula One car and getting the feeling of being in the cockpit again. It was exciting and I really enjoyed my time driving the car and working with the engineers after the winter break. Unfortunately our day was shortened by an issue with the power unit, something we will look into once the car is back at the factory. This, together with the very windy and cold conditions, made our work harder but every lap is valuable in pre-season. I am really looking forward to the final test next week and to try the new car. I am especially looking forward to Melbourne and starting racing again.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer: “It was not the most straightforward of days, with a few technical issues costing us track time. A windy morning made it difficult to evaluate some of the items we were testing, but it still made for a useful first experience with the new Pirelli tyres for Nico, and we will be able to extract some data from those laps. Although we finish this test with a fairly frustrating day for Nico, over these four days we gathered a lot of useful information and we will put that into good practice for the start of the season.”

Romain Grosjean returned to the wheel of the Lotus F1 E23 hybrid to top the times for the fourth day of testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Romain completed 111 laps over the course of a programme of set-up evaluations and performance simulations. The day was characterised by clear skies and sunshine, however conditions were windy. Romain’s best lap time of 1min 24.067secs was the fastest of the test.

Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E23-02
Weather: Sun, crisp and windy. Ambient 10°C – 19°C Track 11°C – 29°C
Programme: Tyre and aero assessments, performance simulations
Laps Completed: 111
Classification: P1, 1:24.067
Interruptions: Aero evaluation equipment fitting and removal.

Lotus F1 will resume test action at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the next four-day test commencing Thursday 26 February with Romain driving on the first and third day and Pastor in action on days two and four.

France’s Romain Grosjean (and below)

Romain Grosjean: “It was great to get behind the wheel of the E23 once more. Conditions were pretty tricky with quite a bit of wind, especially early on, but the car ran well, meaning we could complete the tests we wanted to – even if I had to modify my lines in the morning because the wind was pushing the car! We made some good improvements with the balance and set-up over the course of the day and it felt a lot better after we made changes for the afternoon. We completed a very promising mileage and it’s always good to see your name at the top of the timing monitors, even if it is far too early to know what everyone else is doing.”

Nick Chester, Technical Director: “We’ve enjoyed a solid first test in Barcelona with good reliability and encouraging performance. The biggest positive we have seen so far is the reliability of the E23 which is enabling us to push along with our assessments and evaluations over the course of 361 laps or 1680km. It was good to have Romain in the car so we could add his feedback to that we’ve already received here from Pastor and Jolyon. Today was particularly windy, making it harder to work on car balance assessments, but we conducted a productive race simulation in the afternoon as well as other performance evaluations. During this test, we’ve completed plenty of laps so we have plenty to be working on over the next three days before we’re back in action here.”

Williams

Driver: Valtteri Bottas

Chassis/Engine: FW37-02/PU106B hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Objectives: Set-up and Race sim
Weather: Warm and Dry
Air and track temps: 11 – 19 ºC / 12 – 28ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test and Support Engineer: “We had a very busy plan today. The morning was tough due to the wind conditions which affected our chassis testing. In the afternoon we had a race-sim planned, but this was interrupted by three red flags, then once again in the final run of the day there was another red flag. All of these stoppages stilted our progression slightly and meant we couldn’t quite complete our plan. Throughout the whole test though we have gathered a lot of data and are prepared for the final test next week.

Valtteri Bottas: “We completed quite a few laps today which was positive even though our programme was disrupted a few times. The FW37 remains reliable but we have quite a way to go before we are at the level we want to be, although we are on schedule. Both tests have been relatively issue free and so we have begun preparations for Australia and look forward to the final test next week.”

Sahara Force India’s dynamic reveal brings colour to Mexico City

31/01/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Andrew Green, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

The team’s spectacular event at the Soumaya museum saw Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg pull back the covers to reveal 2015’s VJM08.

With relatively stable technical regulations, the VJM08 has been designed with evolution rather than revolution in mind.

The most significant changes from the outside appear at the front of the car with the lowering of the front of the chassis and nose. Explains Technical Director, Andrew Green:

“The front of the car looks very different from what we’ve developed previously. It’s a redesign that involved a lot of work over the winter, as the new regulations caused a loss in terms of downforce and we’ve been working to claw back all that performance.

“The VJM08 features several subtle changes, including modified sculpting of the sidepods and new cooling intakes. Underneath the skin there’s a completely new rear suspension layout with a new hydro-mechanical system replacing the original torsion springs. The VJM08 is expected to make its track testing debut in Barcelona next month with the VJM07 running at the first test in Jerez.”

However, it’s the new car livery that may get heads turning. The chassis features an elegant combination of silver and black with the team’s traditional colour of orange streaking from the nose cone to the rear of the car in two symmetrical curves.

Key to the new livery is the introduction of several commercial partners for 2015. Prominent NEC branding appears on the engine cover to signal the beginning of a relationship with the global ICT firm based in Tokyo. Also on the engine cover are the logos of telecommunications brands Claro and Telcel as America Movil begins its second season supporting the team.

Tequila brand, Jose Cuervo features on the car’s headrest, while logos from Latin America insurance broker, Inter appears on the front wing end plates. Motor oil brand, Quaker State also partners with the team placing its logos on the rear wing end plates.

The team has also extended its partnership with Smirnoff for a second season, and continued with long-time partners United Spirits, Kingfisher and Royal Challenge.

I’ll look forward to the GP invites. Having lunches and drinks with such a range of sponsors should make them quite a lively affair…

Chinese GP – Sahara Force India

21/04/2014 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

The team continued its strong points-scoring form in China as Nico Hulkenberg finished in sixth place ahead of Sergio Perez in ninth. The 10 points scored today leave the team with 54 points and third in the constructors’ standings.

Nico Hulkenberg:

“Finishing in sixth and bringing both cars home in the points again was a very positive result for the team. It was actually a pretty straightforward race for me after we got in front of Massa: I had to manage my tyres, my pace and avoid mistakes, and it only got tricky at the end when Bottas was getting a bit closer. We have beaten all other customer Mercedes cars, which are our main competition at the moment, but we have also seen some other teams up their game so we will need to keep pushing.”

Sergio Perez:

“To start from P16 and finish in ninth place is a good recovery after a difficult qualifying session yesterday. I made a good start and after that I just focused on making the two-stop strategy work. I think everybody suffered with tyre graining and I picked up a few flat spots, but we still made it work. It was not easy to overtake today, even the cars were on a different strategy, so I think ninth place was the maximum. It means I’ve scored points in three out of four races, but I was hoping for more today after the weekend we had in Bahrain. It’s also clear that all the teams around us are finding pace so we have to keep working hard to be ready for Barcelona.”

Jerez testing

29/01/2014 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Sahara Force India got through a second day of testing in Jerez as Sergio Perez completed 37 laps in the VJM07. Nico Hulkenberg will get his first run in the car tomorrow.

A few nice images of car and driver..

Above: Couple of shots of Sergio Perez.

CLIVE COULDWELL: Formula One as it is…

A slightly different take on the sport

Tag Archives: Nico Hulkenberg

Japanese GP post race: Lotus

Hulkenberg re-signs for Sahara

Belgian GP post race: Sahara Force India

Austria post race: Sahara Force India

Canada post race: Sahara Force India

Monaco post race: Sahara Force India

Monaco qualifying: Force India

Barcelona post race: Sahara

China post race: Sahara Force India

Melbourne post race: Sahara Force India

Pre-season test: Day 2

Barcelona tests: Day 4

Sahara Force India’s dynamic reveal brings colour to Mexico City

Chinese GP – Sahara Force India

Jerez testing

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