Singapore, 17 Sept 2016: Sahara Force India performed well in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix with Nico Hulkenberg ending the day in eighth place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth. However, Perez is expected to start the race from P18 following a grid penalty for yellow flag violations during a qualyfying session. The Mexican was also handed three penalty points on his licence for the two double yellow infringements and for overtaking under yellow. This is the first penalty on licence for him this season.

Sahara Force India is currently placed in the fifth place in the Constructors Championship with 108 points, three points behind Williams. With Force India expected to be stronger in the fly-away Asian races, the fight for the fourth place assumes significance. Sergio Perez with 62 points is ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the 8th place in the Driver's Championship. Nico is once place behind with 46 points.

The team had its best result in its nine years of Formula one, when it bagged 22 points with Nico and Sergio finishing fourth and fifth, just outside the podium in Belgium last month.

The team is expecting to earn crucial points in the night race at Singapore.

P8        Nico Hülkenberg       VJM09-03

Q1: 1:46.081

Q2: 1:44.737

Q3: 1:44.479

Nico: “I’m not entirely happy with eighth place. I believe there was more speed in the car – maybe two of three tenths – but it was quite a messy session and we couldn’t extract the maximum from it. We always felt that Q3 was a realistic target, but we faced some strong competition, especially from the Toro Rossos. It was quite hard to find my rhythm because I had a software issue in Q1 and then the yellow flags in Q2 meant I didn’t complete my second lap. Considering all the circumstances, eighth place is a reasonable result and I think we are in good shape for the race. The long run performance from yesterday looked solid and we’ve done the homework we need ahead of the race.”

P10*     Sergio Perez              VJM09-02

Q1: 1:45.204

Q2: 1:44.703

Q3: 1:44.582

Sergio: “It was a very tricky session for me – pretty much like the rest of the weekend so far. We had a few technical issues yesterday and we had to make some compromises with the set-up to get a better feeling with the car, so to make Q3 was a good result. The final session was very tight and a couple of hundredths would have moved us up the grid. I’m disappointed to receive the grid penalty because I did significantly lift off for the yellow flags during Q2. Tomorrow’s race is going to be very long and the chance of a Safety Car is very high. It’s one of those races where just getting to the end gives you a chance of points: anything can happen and we need to make the most of every opportunity.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal

“Even though we saw both our cars through to Q3, there was definitely a sense that we didn’t maximise our full potential this evening. Both drivers found it difficult to find their rhythm and there were various issues that disrupted the flow of qualifying on both sides of the garage. A few tenths here and there would have certainly moved us up the grid. Looking ahead to the race, I’m wary of making any bold predictions. It’s always a long race, close to the two-hour mark, and there will be plenty of opportunities to show our competitive race pace and hopefully collect some valuable points.”

[caption id="attachment_4807" align="alignright" width="560"] File photo of Nico Hulkenberg from Sahara Force India.[/caption]

eom/Force India press release