Sahara Force India covers 150 laps; Mallya’s first visit to paddock this season
British Grand Prix, Friday 14th July 2017. Silverstone, England.
Sahara Force India had a positive first day of track action in Silverstone, with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon covering 150 laps between them.
SERGIO PEREZ – VJM10-02
| FP1 | 1:31.297 | P13 | 33 laps |
| FP2 | 1:30.624 | P13 | 43 laps |
Sergio: “It’s been a positive day for us, despite the windy conditions that added a bit of difficulty. We have a good understanding of what the car is doing and of what we can improve for both qualifying and the race. Driving the 2017 cars on this track is impressive. The amount of downforce you carry in the high-speed corners is incredible. Of all the tracks we have raced this season, this is probably the one on which I have experienced the biggest difference compared to last year. All the reference points you have built up in the past change and this can put you at a disadvantage: it took me a bit of time to get used to the amounts of grip we have, but I am feeling comfortable now.”
ESTEBAN OCON – VJM10-01
| FP1 | 1:31.210 | P12 | 32 laps |
| FP2 | 1:30.383 | P10 | 42 laps |
Esteban: “It’s been a solid Friday overall. Our pace was promising from the start of practie and we kept improving every time we went out. We didn’t make any mistake on a day of tricky conditions and I generally felt the car was pretty good. This is not an easy track on which to drive – it’s fast and demanding, but also very enjoyable to drive. We have work ahead of us and we’ll need to wait until tomorrow to see where we stand, but I think we have a strong base.
“Something that really struck me on this track is the performance of the cars: they are so fast and the cornering speeds are impressive. You really feel it in your neck through the fast corners – I think I’ll need a really good massage tonight!”
VIJAY MALLYA, TEAM PRINCIPAL & MANAGING DIRECTOR
“It has been a pretty straightforward Friday with a lot of work to get through. We have been able to evaluate the new parts we brought here and made progress with the car set-up. Both drivers are reasonably happy about the balance of the car but there is obviously still more performance we can find. We expect the battle in the midfield to be extremely tight and it will be crucial to maximise what we can extract from our qualifying performance. The weather forecast for the next few days keeps changing, so we will need to ensure we adapt to the conditions quickly.”
eom/Sahara Force India press release
