Friday: Hülkenberg and Pérez struggling with tires at Force India
Force India seems to be grappling with uncooperative tires. The Indian team is lagging compared to previous races.
Sergio Pérez (No. 11) – 9th and 16th
It was not an easy day according to the Mexican driver, but he believes that the race pace seems good, and it will be crucial to qualify well because it is always difficult to overtake on this circuit.
Like his teammate, he is particularly concerned about the tires: « The tires available this weekend are very hard, and this poses problems in getting them to work as we want. We need to work on this aspect with the engineers tonight, and then we will be in a position to fight for a spot in Q3, which must be our goal. »
Nico Hülkenberg (No. 27) – 12th and 11th
The German driver completed the information-gathering work he wanted but stated: « We still have work to do to find performance in the car because we have the potential to improve. »
He thinks as he did last year that tire degradation will be preeminent: « Here in Barcelona, the track is not easy and the key will be to find more grip, especially with hard tires. Degradation is high here, last year it was a four-stop race and I expect the demands on the tires to be just as high this year. »
