Sahara Force India started its Malaysian GP weekend with two productive practice sessions

Nico Hülkenberg (VJM08-01- FP1: 1:42.893 (P15) 13 laps / FP2: 1:42.330 (P15) 28 laps):  “It was a fairly straightforward day and we managed to almost maximise our time on track. The afternoon, in particular, was a good session in which we managed to do all the runs we were planning: we did some useful tests and I believe there is a lot we can learn from today, both for the rest of the weekend and for the future. The track conditions changed significantly between the morning and afternoon session, and this had a big influence on how the car felt, especially the tyre performance. We need to take all the information we learned today and work hard overnight to find some gains for tomorrow.”

Sergio Perez (VJM08-02 - FP1: 1:43.054 (P16) 15 laps / FP2: 1:42.242 (P13) 24 laps): "We did a lot today and I think it’s been a positive start to our weekend. We completed our programme and we covered a good amount of laps, which gave us a lot of information, especially about the long runs. The heat will have a big impact on the tyres and my feeling is that it’s relatively easy to get performance over a single lap, but on the other hand the track temperatures impact heavily on degradation, so our focus is to find the right balance of how to manage the tyres. We know the task ahead won't be easy as the grid is very competitive, but we will do our best.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: “It was a fairly positive day in the extreme conditions that are typical of Malaysia. The morning was dedicated to gathering aero data with special instrumentation and sensors on the car, which is a important step to help us understand how the VJM08 is performing here and will help guide future development. For the afternoon, our focus shifted towards working on the set-up and preparing for the race. By the end of the second session, both drivers were happy with the balance. We obviously still have a lot of work to do ahead of qualifying, but from a learning perspective we’ve achieved a lot today.”

Sahara Force India