Force India seeking answers after "failing miserably" in Austria

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez have normally benefitted from Force India being so kind on its rubber, which has given them decent strategic options in the past.

However, at the Red Bull Ring, both men faced big trouble keeping their tyres alive and faced added brake problems – with a front-left disc failure pitching Perez out on the penultimate lap.

Having gone into the race hopeful of a podium challenge with Hulkenberg's front row start, the team instead suffered a major disappointment.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley said: “It went wrong from the lights. He [Hulkenberg] bogged down at the start and couldn't keep the tyres together. We tried them all. It was not good at all. We had some brake issues too, so not a good day.

“We just need to look at everything. There was nothing telling us beforehand there was anything majorly wrong. It is a heavy-braking circuit, but nothing really that was obvious.

“Maybe we've got something wrong on the set-up, as obviously there is something clearly wrong. So we need to know what it is.”

When asked if the disappointment of Sunday was harder to take after such a good qualifying effort, Fernley said: “I actually compartmentalise it. Qualifying was good, but we knew it was a result of the conditions and that probably sixth was what we were aiming for – which is what Jenson [Button] did.

"But we obviously failed miserably.”