Fourth row for both Force Indias in Abu Dhabi
Sahara Force India confirmed its status as the fourth force in the field by securing the fourth row of the grid at the end of qualifying in Abu Dhabi. Nico Hülkenberg was once again able to get ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez.
In the season’s teammate qualifying match, Nico Hülkenberg was already assured of victory against Sergio Perez. This was confirmed in Abu Dhabi, thanks to a seventh-place finish. However, the German’s weekend didn’t get off to the easiest start as he had to give up his seat to Alfonso Celis during FP1 and then encountered a technical problem during the final session.
This did not prevent the future Renault driver from achieving another solid performance in qualifying: « I’m very happy and I think seventh place is the best we could do today. I’m pleased with my laps, especially with the lack of track time I had this weekend. At the start of qualifying, I thought it would be quite difficult, but we made good progress on the car during the session, and I had the confidence to really give it my all in every lap. »
The German driver is well aware that the gap with the three teams in front of him should be too large for him to aim for better than a seventh-place finish. He will therefore try to keep his rivals behind him, starting with his teammate. The latter wasn’t able to achieve the perfect lap when it mattered: « I am happy with the result for the team, locking out the fourth row, but I’m not very satisfied with my performance because I know I could have done better. I had a bit of understeer on my last lap. So I tried to compensate for it by changing my lines, but that didn’t necessarily work. I could have been seventh with a perfect lap, but with Nico just ahead, it’s still a great result for the team. »
With only one Williams in the top 10, Sahara Force India can feel confident about maintaining its fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
