Force India Spanish GP Friday report
Sahara Force India
2012 Spanish Grand Prix, Free Practice Report
Sahara Force India enjoyed a busy day of free practice under the Spanish sunshine as the team evaluated its latest developments and worked through the usual set-up and tyre programmes.
Nico Hulkenberg (VJM05/03)
FP1: P10 1:25.339 24 laps
FP2: P10 1:24.365 22 laps
Nico: “We got through the programme pretty much as planned and the initial results seem quite encouraging. The main task was to continue understanding the new upgrades, which I ran for both sessions, and getting the car set-up nicely for the track. We made some changes during the lunch break and they improved things, so I’m happy about what we’ve done today. As always, there’s still work to do, but the main tasks for today are complete.”
Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02)
FP1: Did not participate
FP2: P15 1:24.688 30 laps
Paul: “A fairly normal Friday afternoon session for me trying to get on top of the tyres quickly and fine-tune the balance of the car. I had the new parts on the car, which seem to be delivering, although it’s too early to say where we stand because we don’t know what everyone else was doing or their fuel loads. I think it’s going to be another very close weekend, just as we have seen in the previous races, and we still have plenty of work to do before qualifying to find the sweet spot.”
Jules Bianchi (VJM05/02)
FP1: P18 1:26.630 21 laps
FP2: Did not participate
Jules: “I was driving the same car we raced in Bahrain so that the team could run a back-to-back comparison with the new developments we have here. The session went well, I managed 21 laps on the hard compound tyre and the programme has given us a lot of data to analyse before qualifying.”
Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer
“A productive Friday for us with excellent feedback from Nico, Paul and Jules as we continued to evaluate the developments we ran in Mugello last week. The driver comments are encouraging and the numbers also suggest the new parts are delivering what we expected. The rest of the programme was a fairly standard Friday job list, although Nico did use two sets of hard tyres this morning. Paul was back in the car for the afternoon and quickly got up to speed as he spent the majority of the session on the soft tyres. There’s still room to improve overnight to maximise final practice and leave us in good shape going into qualifying.”
Images are free for download for any editorial use, please credit Sahara Force India Formula One Team. Commercial use should be approved by Sahara Force India.
Share Or Save This Story
Nico Rosberg praises Nico Hulkenberg's "spectacular" Dutch GP save
How Nico Hulkenberg avoided a massive shunt with Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto
Why some F1 team bosses think drivers shouldn't have a say in the rules
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
Former Force India F1 boss Fernley dies aged 70
David Coulthard questions timing of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher tribute amid distraction concerns
Charles Leclerc reveals he deleted social media apps from his phone amid F1 2026 hardship
Carlos Sainz makes Venice Film Festival appearance ahead of Italian GP
Marc Marquez shares shocking image of his right arm
Kimi Antonelli’s Italian GP grid penalty could be a blessing in disguise
Why Lewis Hamilton shouldn't regret his Ferrari radio rant – but why he was right to apologise
Top 10 greatest F1 qualifiers
Making sense of Wolff's claim that Mercedes "haven't got the money" for car development
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.
Top Comments