Nico Hülkenberg puts Sahara Force India in top 3 in Belgium
Sahara Force India's fine form since returning to Europe is confirmed by a good first day of testing at Spa-Francorchamps: both cars finished 3rd and 5th in the afternoon.
Since the European Grand Prix in Baku, Sahara Force India is clearly the fourth force on the grid. However, they are still fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, behind Williams. But for this first day of testing in Belgium, the Silverstone team achieved a very strong performance, with Nico Hülkenberg placing on the podium for the day: **”It was a good start after the summer break. We didn’t have the slightest problem and we were able to complete our entire planned work program. We collected the usual data and made good progress between the two sessions.”**
Nevertheless, before dreaming of his first podium in F1, the German knows he still needs to fine-tune his settings to withstand the comeback of other teams, starting with Mercedes who are trailing today: « It’s not perfect yet, but there’s still work to do tonight, using today’s data. »
Sergio Perez was also very consistent on this first day, ranking 4th in the morning and 5th in the afternoon: « We need to understand the car’s balance a bit more and improve our settings. The weather will play a very important role: it will greatly affect tire degradation but I’m sure we will be able to make the necessary changes for the race. »
Force India could very well gain a place in the championship this weekend.
From our special correspondent in Spa-Francorchamps
