Perez: “We got very useful points”

A good Japanese GP for the Force India by Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. The two drivers took home a very useful 7th and 8th place in their bid for fourth place in the Constructors' World Championship. The team managed to lead Williams by ten points: it did so thanks to a better starting position, a careful strategy and a car fast enough to stay ahead of its direct rivals. Perez, third after the start, cherished the dream of the podium only in the first laps while Hulkenberg was the protagonist of one of the best overtaking of the day on Bottas.

Sergio Perez: “I had fun today and I feel like we made all the right decisions during the race. The start was good, I had an excellent starting point and entered the first corner cleanly, finishing in third place. I did my best to maintain position but I knew it would be difficult to keep up with some cars that were much faster than me. Our car was very fast today and the two-stop strategy was definitely the right one. We did what it took to overtake the Williams who were on a different strategy and fortunately we made our moves on them quickly. At the end of the race, after all the stops, we just preserved the tires and stayed out of trouble. We scored very useful points today and we need to continue to do the same in the last four races."

Nico Hulkenberg: “I'm quite satisfied with my race; finishing seventh would have been possible but I paid the price for not having had an ideal qualifying session. I had a good first lap, but when you find yourself at the end of the top ten you always have a lot more traffic to deal with. The overtaking on Bottas was the highlight of my race. I had tried to pass him the lap before but I didn't have the right exit at the last corner, so I told myself I would overtake him at the chicane. I pulled off the right move, it was a close wheel-to-wheel battle. It was important to finish with two cars in the points because we know that from here on every race and every point will count and the battle for the championship will continue until the last race. It's becoming a nice and fun challenge."

Robert Fernley (Deputy team principal): “We leave Japan feeling satisfied with our performance throughout the weekend. We qualified well, which allowed us to make the optimal two-stop strategy with both cars. Seventh and eighth was the best we could realistically hope for given the reliability of the cars, so it was gratifying to take home ten important points. It was very pleasant to watch Sergio and Nico involved in so many duels in the first laps. They pulled off some excellent moves which were important because they allowed us to use the strategy to our advantage. With four races to go we need to maximize our potential because the road to the end of the season is still long."

Manuel Lai