Practice report

Formula 1 Spanish GP

Sahara Force India completed a solid first day of work at the Spanish GP

Both Force India drivers finished in the top ten in the final practice session of the day.

Edited: May 18, 2016, 2:53 PM

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Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1

Nico Hülkenberg VJM09-03

FP1: 1:26.938 (P13) 27 laps
FP2: 1:25.453 (P10) 35 laps

Nico: “It was a good Friday and we managed to get through most of our programme. We had a big upgrade package to test so all the data we managed to get will help us understand it and make the most of it. The first impressions are positive: I think it’s a good step forward in performance and I am quite pleased with how things went today. The job now is to analyse all the information from the sessions and see what else we can extract from the car. There are a few more tweaks we can make to get the balance right for the weekend, but it’s a good starting point.”

Sergio Perez VJM09-02

FP1: 1:27.064 (P14) 9 laps
FP2: 1:25.437 (P9) 32 laps

Sergio: “It was frustrating to lose some track time this morning, especially when you have some upgrades to test, but we managed to recover well in FP2. I’m not yet totally comfortable with the balance, but I believe we have made a big step forward compared to the car we had at the beginning of the season. Track position is very important in Barcelona so hopefully we can turn this performance into a good qualifying result tomorrow.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal

“It was not the most straightforward morning with an oil leak costing Sergio quite a bit of time, but all in all it was a positive day. We were still able to cover a lot of ground with Nico and we completed good mileage with both cars in the afternoon, giving us plenty of data and information. We ran on all three tyre compounds and got a good understanding of the effects of our upgrade package. The preliminary indications appear to be very positive and we believe there is more to come from the car. There is still some work to do ahead of tomorrow, but I think we’re moving in a good direction.”

Sahara Force India

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