Important points for Force India and Perez in Bahrain
The Force India team brought back four new points from the Bahrain Grand Prix. Against all odds after the qualifying, it was not Nico Hülkenberg but Sergio Perez who achieved this impressive gain.
Qualified in 8th position on Saturday, Nico Hülkenberg believed he could score points after the race on Sunday. However, a constant lack of grip on his car prevented him: “It’s a disappointing result for me tonight (yesterday),” admitted the German after the race. “It seems that we didn’t have the same level of grip as in qualifying, which made my car very hard to drive.”
But Force India was able to rely on a strong race attack from Sergio Perez to salvage a weekend that had started poorly for the Mexican, who qualified only 11th: « The 8th place is really satisfying and I am very happy. It was a good opportunity to score points and it’s a nice reward for the whole team. Before the race, we weren’t sure if a two-stop strategy was possible. We thought tire wear would be too high, but the team did a fantastic job to make it possible. »
Rob Fernley, the team’s technical director, shares his driver’s enthusiasm: « We leave Bahrain with a really positive feeling. It’s a solid result to leave these first distant races and we add 4 important points before heading to Europe. »
