Nico Hulkenberg in seventh heaven: Malaysian GP Qualies
Sepang, 29 March 2014: It was a wet Saturday afternoon in Sepang this year and Sahara Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg qualified in seventh place repeating his Australian performance while teammate Sergio Perez will start P14.
The Qualifying sessions were delayed for over 45 minutes and all the drivers had to manage in conditions that left visibility very poor with water and spray making driving tricky with the new engines.
German Hulkenberg, rejoined the Indian outfit, after a year’s sojourn with Sauber team. Sauber, with its team principal in Indian-born Monisha Kaltenborn, are close competitors for Sahara Force India, which pushed them to 7th place last year to regain its sixth place. The change of tyre compounds midway through the last season after the Webber tyre flew and hit a cameraman, had ruined the chances of the Indian team, which would otherwise may have achieved much better results. Many also feel, the Pirelli’s safety-first strategy was one of the crucial reasons for Red Bull winning their fourth title. Vettel, who struggled in the initial races, became a dominating force in the later half of the season.
This year, Force India, vows to do better than last year. “I made a public statement that we would improve year and we have been doing that. We reclaimed our 6th place and dry or wet, I want both our cars to finish in top ten,’’ said Vijay Mallya, Team Principal.
Hulkenberg clocked 2:01.712 for P-7 on Saturday. “It was pretty challenging with the weather conditions today. There was so much rain, standing water and spray. Visibility was an issue and it was hard to see your braking points. It’s tricky to drive these engines with lots of torque in these conditions and you need to be really smooth with the throttle out of the slow corners, but I enjoyed the challenge. We’re in P7 and in the top ten on the grid for the second time in a row, which is a result we can be satisfied with. I think we have shown all weekend that we have the speed to be top-ten material whether it’s wet or dry and I hope to score a good helping of points tomorrow,” commented Hulkenberg.
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez, popularly called Checko could not make it to the final qualifying session after clocking 2:02.511 in Q2. “The conditions out there were very difficult and they kept changing with every lap, especially during Q2. I had a better feeling on the intermediate tyres and when I changed to the full wets I struggled to keep the temperature in them, which made it hard to put together a good lap. Tomorrow we will need to try and recover from P14, but we have to see what the weather will do. I also need to solve the rear locking which is affecting me under braking in the wet conditions. I’m still confident we can have a good race and I will keep fighting to score as many points as possible,” he said.
Team’s Managing Director Vijay Mallya added: “Another very wet qualifying session in Sepang presented us with challenging conditions today. Nico looked comfortable in the wet and matched his starting position from Melbourne with seventh place. He has been in the top ten in all the sessions this weekend and should be in good shape for tomorrow. Sergio struggled more in the wet and didn’t have confidence on the wet tyres. We will try and solve those issues tonight because there’s a good chance of more rain tomorrow.’’
Talking to India in F1, he commented as a parting shot: “Whether it’s wet or dry I’d like to see both Sahara Force India cars well inside the top ten.”
However, Nico was realistic when he spoke of the problems a day earlier: “I think we can be satisfied with what we learned on Friday. We worked through the programme and there were no big issues on my side. Of course, the hot weather here means conditions are tough and we found that tyre management during the long run was quite challenging.
“It’s even more difficult this year because there is more wheelspin with these engines and the rear degradation is quite high. We collected the usual data for the tyres and the set-up, and I think there is still room for improvement. I need some more grip and we need to tweak the balance before final practice,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Chief Operating Officer Otmar Szafnauer, sounded optimistic: “Apart from some lost track time for Sergio on Friday, which resulted from a fuel system issue, our preparation for the Malaysian Grand Prix has gone largely to plan. We are happy with P-7 and will try to finish both cars in points for the Sunday.
“We met our mileage target for the tyres and signed off the cooling solutions we have in place for this weekend. The long run performance looks competitive, although coping with the high tyre degradation will be critical on Sunday afternoon,” he added. But rain may bring along its own problems.
The mood in the Indian camp, both inside the garage and the among the team personnel, looks very bright. A good Sunday at Sepang is in the offing for the Force!
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