Tag Archives: Sahara Force India

Austria post race: Sahara Force India

23/06/2015 By in Formula One Tags: , , , , Leave a comment
Nico Hulkenberg

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

Sergio Perez

Canada post race: Sahara Force India

22/06/2015 By in Formula One Tags: , , Leave a comment
Sergio Perez

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

Nico Hulkenberg

China post race: Sahara Force India

12/04/2015 By in Formula One Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment
Germany's Nico Hulkenberg in the VJM08.

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.

Sergio Perez.

Melbourne post race: Sahara Force India

15/03/2015 By in Formula One Tags: , , , , Leave a comment
Nico Hulkenberg leads team mate Sergio Perez.

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.

Sergio Perez.

Suit’s you, sir…

31/01/2015 By in Formula One Tags: , , , Leave a comment
Nicely turned out, gentlemen...

Nicely turned out, gentlemen…

 

The F1 teams usually roll out their ‘apparel’ or kit sponsors at the beginning of the season, and they don’t attract much attention.

However, seeing how much ‘image’ is rolling in the bucks for the team this year I did smile when Sahara Force India informed me that it was:

“…pleased to welcome Apsley Tailors as the team’s supplier of bespoke tailoring. The London-based brand will dress the team’s race drivers and senior management with a range of clothing options including suits, blazers and jackets to be worn throughout the 2015 season…”

With a 125-year heritage, Apsley Tailors has built its worldwide reputation on a tradition of quality and comfort. Everything it produces is bespoke and made to measure, which draws immediate parallels with Sahara Force India’s Formula One cars. It is this attention to detail and insistence on design perfection that makes Apsley the ideal brand to dress the team with style and elegance.

I’ll now remove the tongue from my cheek completely and insist they send me the complete ensemble before attending the GP. I’m a very British gent after all…

 

Jerez testing

29/01/2014 By in Formula One Tags: , , , 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..

Motor Racing - Formula One Testing - Day 2 - Jerez, Spain

Above: Couple of shots of Sergio Perez.

Above: Couple of shots of Sergio Perez.

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