Force India didn’t have an ideal day of racing at the Bahrain International Circuit for the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix. Both of their drivers were off of the pace and didn’t finish very high up the field. Nico Hülkenberg admits that things didn’t go to plan in this race.
This race was the place where Force India saw a podium finish at the 2014 event. However, things were not as positive for the team this year, as they were struggling with an uphill battle right off of the line. Each made some contact with another car in the opening laps of the race.
Hülkenberg describes his race:
“A difficult and disappointing race where not much went to plan. I made a poor start away from the line and was on the back foot going into turn one. Then suddenly three or four cars backed up on the apex and I nudged the back of somebody, which damaged my front wing and forced me to pit on lap one. From there onwards we tried to recover and pull off a two-stop strategy to get back in the race, but it proved very difficult. I was always in traffic and involved in lots of fights so my tyre degradation was very high.”
Unlike his teammate, Sergio Pérez had a great start. Things were going well for the Force India driver until he made contact with the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz. “I was in his tow and when I went onto the marbles on the inside I just couldn’t stop the car enough,” explained Sergio Pérez. With damage from the accident, Pérez’s story was very similar to his teammate, as he struggled to play catch up the rest of the race.
The team is hoping to make up for a poor race in Bahrain, by scoring some points in China. “We will need to regroup, take the positives from the weekend, such as the pace we showed in qualifying, and bounce back in China to score the points we deserve,” said Robert Fernley, Force India’s Deputy Team Principal.
