Sahara Force India drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta remained positive despite starting 12th and 16th respectively for the Indian GP on Sunday
Team principal Vijay Mallya, who appeared at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC), grabbed the media attention for the controversies surrounding his Kingfisher Airlines.
“We went into the session expecting to make it to Q3, so it is a bit disappointing to miss out.
“After the first qualifying, it was clear that it was going to be a big task but obviously you always try and believe it is possible,” said Hulkenberg.
Confident
“My lap in Q2 was actually pretty good with no mistakes and that was just the maximum for us today. I guess that some other cars have picked up pace today and that is why we are behind them. I still have confidence for the race because we have seen how close the times are today and we were not too far away from the top ten.” Hulkenberg said.
“Today some of the best drivers had problem.
It is a very technical circuit, especially in the second sector.”
According to di Resta, some technical issues let Force India down.
Technical issues
“It is a big weekend for us but the performance we showed today is not really where we want to be. We have not been able to maximise the car we have got. The car balance was not ideal and I didn’t have the best lap during my final run in Q2 — there were some mistakes and I didn’t have the consistency or the confidence to really push.”
Mallya said: “there is a long race ahead and we can still turn things around and demonstrate our true potential. It is our home Grand Prix and we want to deliver good results with both cars.”
The lone Indian driver in the race, Narain Karthikeyan of HRT, was happy with his 23rd place in the qualifying.
“I am happy because we finished ahead of one of the Marussias, my time was almost identical to Pedro’s and we have got good pace,” said Karthikeyan, who clocked a 1:30.824.
