Breaking news
Formula 1 Australian GP
Force India blames red flag for ruining one-stop strategy
Force India rued the untimely red flag that destroyed its one-stop strategy in Australian Grand Prix.
Darshan Chokhani
Edited: Mar 20, 2016, 7:35 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Silvertsone-based outfit had called in both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez just a lap before the stoppage, which proved to be a decisive factor in the grand prix's outcome.
Hulkenberg was running seventh after making up three places, but dropped to 10th after the stop, having to recover from then on in the race.
The German, for the major part of the race was stuck behind Haas' Romain Grosjean, who benefitted from changing tyres during the red flag.
"It was not an easy day and it’s difficult to know what would have happened without the race being stopped and restarted," said Hulkenberg after the race.
"I think the red flag made things a lot more difficult for our planned one-stop strategy because it gave everybody around us the chance to reset and change their tyres.
"So that was a shame and it meant I was out of position and got stuck behind the Haas for most of the race."
Eventually, Hulkenberg couldn't get past the Haas driver, the American team scoring points on its debut, leaving the Force India driver seventh.
"It was not easy to get close to Romain [Grosjean] and I had a lot of cars behind me [Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen], which meant I was always under pressure and having to defend as well as chase.
"So, given all the circumstances, seventh place feels quite satisfying," he added.
Deputy team principal, Robert Fernley felt the red flag benefited the teams around it, making Force India's life all the more difficult.
"Our strategy was shaping up very nicely with the plan to stop both cars only once," he said.
"But the red flag reset the strategies of everyone around us and made our task much more difficult.
"Making our pit stops just prior to the safety car also cost us track position."
Perez disappointed
Perez, who qualified ahead of Hulkenberg in ninth, lost a couple of positions at the start but bounced back into the points before hitting trouble with tyre degradation and brake issues.
"It's a real shame to finish outside of the points," he said. "I spent my first stint behind [Fernando] Alonso, who was on a faster compound, and being stuck in the dirty air destroyed my tyres.
"Unfortunately there was a very similar situation after the restart because I was passed by Jenson [Button], who was on supersoft tyres, and that cost me a lot of time," he added.
Towards the end, the Mexicand dropped out of the points, running 12th behind Renault's Jolyon Palmer.
He then lost a position to Kevin Magnussen, eventually finishing 13th, after the team advised him to take care of his overheating brakes.
"I had an issue with overheating brakes, probably because I spent most of the race in traffic, but [thankfully] we still managed to finish the race."
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 Palmer: Return to wheel-to-wheel action no problem
Next article Alonso says Melbourne crash the biggest of his career
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Darshan Chokhani
Mahindra hurt by 'bad grid position' in Qatar Moto3
Moto3
Moto3
Losail
Mahindra hurt by 'bad grid position' in Qatar Moto3
Kornfeil puts Peugeot in Top 3 on final Moto3 test day
Moto3
Moto3
Jerez March testing
Kornfeil puts Peugeot in Top 3 on final Moto3 test day
Dalla Porta takes charge for Mahindra on Day 2 in Moto3 test
Moto3
Moto3
Jerez March testing
Dalla Porta takes charge for Mahindra on Day 2 in Moto3 test
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
The mistakes that cost Lewis Hamilton a podium at F1’s US GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
44 min
The mistakes that cost Lewis Hamilton a podium at F1’s US GP
HMD Motorsports confirms Leonardo Escorpioni to 2027 Indy NXT roster
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 56 min
HMD Motorsports confirms Leonardo Escorpioni to 2027 Indy NXT roster
“I couldn’t disappear” – Oliver Bearman rues “crazy” penalty for Pierre Gasly clash
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
“I couldn’t disappear” – Oliver Bearman rues “crazy” penalty for Pierre Gasly clash
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