Qualifying report
Formula 1
A hard-fought qualifying session for Sahara Force India
Edited: Oct 27, 2012, 5:20 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
It was a hard-fought qualifying session for Sahara Force India as Nico Hulkenberg and Paul Di Resta qualified in twelfth and sixteenth places respectively for tomorrow’s Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit.
Nico Hulkenberg (VJM05/03 - Q2: 1:26.241, P12): “We went into the session targeting and expecting to make Q3, so it’s a bit disappointing to miss out.
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India Formula One Team
Photo by: xpb.cc
After the first part of qualifying it was clear that it was going to be a big task, but obviously you always try and believe it is possible. My lap in Q2 was actually pretty good with no mistakes and that was just the maximum for us today.
I guess that some other cars have picked up pace today and that’s why we are behind them. I still have confidence for the race because we have seen how close the times are today and we were not too far away from the top ten.
The other good news is that we can pick our starting tyres for the race, so our focus tonight is to think hard about the strategy.”
Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02 - Q2: 1:26.989, P16 ): “It’s a big weekend for us but the performance we showed today is not really where we want to be. It has been a tricky couple of days and we’ve not been able to maximise the car we’ve got.
The car balance was not ideal and I didn’t have the best lap during my final run in Q2 – there were a few small mistakes and I didn’t have the consistency or the confidence to really push.
So there is a lot of work to do ahead of the race tomorrow and we need to look at things overnight to see where we can improve. It’s an important day for us and we need to try and recover some ground if we want to come home with points.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director: “We saw another very close session today, but ultimately we didn’t have the performance level to continue our run of top ten qualifying performances.
We’ve been struggling to find the sweet spot on set-up and it seems that the tyres have played a much more significant role here. Their operating window on this track seems very narrow and we probably haven’t got the most from them.
Even so, it’s only Saturday and tomorrow is what counts. There is a long race ahead and we can still turn things around and demonstrate our true potential.
It’s our home Grand Prix and we want to deliver strong races with both cars to hopefully see both Sahara Force Indias inside the points come Sunday afternoon.”
Source: Sahara Force India Formula One Team
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Disappointing qualifiying result for Lotus drivers at Buddh International Circuit
Next article Speed and tyre strategy the key to Indian Grand Prix
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Nico Hulkenberg
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
“They build the best engines” – Audi F1 drivers reveal biggest limitation and how to address it
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
“They build the best engines” – Audi F1 drivers reveal biggest limitation and how to address it
More from
Force India
Otmar Szafnauer reveals failed Kimi Raikkonen bid involving "Angry Birds" founders
Formula 1
Formula 1
Canadian GP
Otmar Szafnauer reveals failed Kimi Raikkonen bid involving "Angry Birds" founders
Esteban Ocon explains why he collided with Sergio Perez so often at Force India
Formula 1
Formula 1
Esteban Ocon explains why he collided with Sergio Perez so often at Force India
Former Force India F1 boss Fernley dies aged 70
Formula 1
Formula 1
Austrian GP
Former Force India F1 boss Fernley dies aged 70
Latest news
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 2 h
TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen to race for JR Motorsports again in 2027
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
3 h
Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen to race for JR Motorsports again in 2027
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe