Saturday at Interlagos: Force India takes over from Williams
Still battling it out with Williams, Vijay Mallya's men finally had the last word in Brazilian qualifying, taking 8th and 9th positions, with Hülkenberg ahead of Pérez. The drivers from Grove were outside the Top 10, in 11th (Bottas) and 13th (Massa).
Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez managed to find the right adjustments to propel their cars into the final part of qualifying, thanks to cooler and wetter weather conditions. Both drivers were pleased with the progress made since the previous day.
The German made the most of his car to reach the 8th position on the grid. He commented on his session: “I am happy with the eighth place and I think it was about the limit today (Saturday). It was close with Checo just behind me and that means we will start the race in a good position.”
My laps were clean, even though I didn’t manage to get out of the last corner well at the end of Q3. It’s been a tricky corner for us since the start of the weekend.
I think we have a good car for tomorrow. We need to do the work and score points. The long stints we did yesterday seemed promising, but we have to wait and see what happens with the weather. For the moment, the weather conditions should be similar, overcast with drizzle. If it rains, it would make things more challenging because it’s difficult to overtake here in the wet.
I’m happy with eighth place and I think it was pretty much the limit today. Here is my Qualifiying Report. @F1 @ForceIndiaF1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/tE9OykOlD6
— Nico Hülkenberg (@HulkHülkenberg) 12 novembre 2016
On the Mexican’s side, he was satisfied with his qualifying session despite a small mistake that cost him a few hundredths: « We have made good progress since practice, and it was enough to reach Q3. The session was a real battle, especially in Q1. The margins between progression and elimination were very narrow. It’s a very short circuit, and you need to put everything together for a perfect lap because even the slightest mistake can make a big difference.
It was close with Nico, we were within a few tenths of each other all afternoon but in the end, I was just a bit short. I made a small mistake in the last corner and it cost me time, so I could have been a little faster. Overall, I think we can be happy with what we have achieved. We kept some fast cars behind us and I believe we can be consistent during the race. Now we need to see what the weather will bring us.
