Force India remain positive about their chances to attack for points in tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix despite, a disappointing qualifying session seeing Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg left in P13 and P18 respectively.
Following the second Free Practice (FP) yesterday, Perez said he was aiming for a top 10 finish in qualifying, to provide a solid platform from which to launch himself higher in to the points. Now that he has had to settle for 13th, Perez says he remains confident about his prospects on race-day.
Force India Eye Race Day Recovery
“It was not the easiest day for us. I was struggling in the wet conditions and that was the main issue today,” said Perez.
“I’m feeling more optimistic for tomorrow and we should have strong race pace. P13 is not a bad place to start the race and I’m sure we can move forward and make up some positions.”
Nico Hulkenberg also had a disappointing session, failing to make Q2 for the first time this season. Hulkenberg cited poor conditions and an incorrect tyre strategy as possible factors contributing to the poor result, but ultimately admitted that mistakes cost him a Q2 appearance.
“Initially it was looking good; I was on the pace and we chose to stay out on one set of intermediates for the whole session,” said Hulkenberg.
“Maybe that was a factor in missing out on Q2 because my tyres were quite old and worn by the end of the session. Q2 should still have been possible, but I made mistakes on my last two laps and out-braked myself going into the final corner, went wide and lost time.
“For the race tomorrow I believe we can recover because we’ve got a solid car and the long run pace in the dry yesterday looked promising,” Hulkenberg concluded.
Tomorrow’s race is likely to have conditions similar to Friday’s Free Practice sessions, with a maximum temperature of around 16 degrees celsius and no rain predicted until the early evening. The regional climate however, is notoriously fickle, and with rain predicted for shortly after the race anything is possible.
Should the rain stay away, Force India’s optimism seems warranted, with Hulkenberg and Perez managing as high as P6 and P8 respectively on Friday.
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