Japanese GP: Practice notes - Force India

05/10/2012

Sahara Force India enjoyed a productive day of practice in Suzuka in preparation for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

Nico Hulkenberg: "Quite a smooth Friday for me and nice to have two dry sessions with consistent weather. We went through the programme and did all the things we wanted to with no issues. I'm quite happy with the car on low fuel, but I think we still have some work to do to improve our high fuel performance. We took our usual approach with the tyres and did long runs on the hard and soft compounds, so we have lots of information to help us for the race."

Paul Di Resta: "The morning session was straightforward and the balance was good straight after lunch with the changes we had made to the car. Unfortunately I made a mistake quite early on and was probably a bit too ambitious. I found myself with my two right side wheels on the grass and lost grip on the loose dirt. It's a shame it had to happen so early in the session and it creates extra work for the guys tonight. You have to be on the edge to feel what the car is doing and sometimes these things happen, but hopefully it won't cost us too much for the rest of the weekend."

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer: "Overall we're pleased with how things went today. The car is working well and the drivers feel comfortable. The things we tried out gave us the results we hoped for so I'd say we are moving in the right direction and learning how to get more performance from the car. Paul lost track time this afternoon with a small mistake, so we will assess how to approach tomorrow to make sure he is ready for qualifying. Tyres will be a challenge here, as always, but I think we know the limits of both the hard and soft compounds, and have good long run data."

Check out our Friday gallery, here.