Hulkenberg and Perez completed busy programmes on Friday practice for the Australian GP

Sahara Force India began its 2015 season today with both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez completing busy programmes in today’s free practice sessions in Albert Park, Melbourne.

Nico Hülkenberg (FP1: 1:32.261 (P13) 19 laps / FP2: 1:30.473 (P10) 30 laps):  “It was a fairly normal Friday with everything running smoothly. The long run performance was pretty good, especially the feeling and confidence I had with the car. So the balance is okay; it’s just that we need to find some more performance, especially over a single lap. With almost 50 laps today I think we are quite well prepared going into the weekend.”

Sergio Perez  (FP1: 1:32.247 (P12) 22 laps / FP2: 1:30.980 (P12) 32 laps): “It was a day when we were able to achieve the objectives and hit our targets in terms of mileage – so that’s positive. We did a lot of work with both the soft and medium tyre compounds, and I think we’ve already got a good understanding of how they perform. In terms of my feeling with the car, there is still a lot to improve, but it’s the first day of the season and the first chance I’ve had to do proper performance work. There is a lot we need to learn from the data and a lot of decisions to be taken tonight.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer: “Both cars ran reliably today and we were able to make good progress through our job list. We did some aero testing this morning, making comparisons between the two cars, which proved useful as we continue to learn about the VJM08. The drivers were happy with the general balance and we made some improvements during the day. The main focus was on our long run performance and we’ve got a pretty good read on where we stand relative to our competitors. For tonight we need to concentrate on further data analysis to make sure we extract the most from the cars on Saturday and especially Sunday.”

Sahara Force India