Force India finish 5th and 6th, skip second practice
April 20th, 2012 - 9:04 pm ICT by IANSManama, April 20 (IANS) Sahara Force India drivers Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg finished third and sixth in the first practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix Friday, while they decided to give the second a miss amidst security concerns.
The Bahrain Grand Prix had got off to the worst possible start Wednesday as a Force India team vehicle survived a fire bomb here while making its way from the Grand Prix circuit back to its hotel. None of the four team members, who were in the vehicle, was injured.
On Friday, Force India were the only team running on the soft compound tyres at the Sakhir circuit in the desert landscape half an hour’s drive from capital city Manama. The team withdrew from the second free practice session for safety reasons.
Di Resta, in VJM05/02, clocked 1:34.150 to finished third while Hulkenberg, in VJM05/03 clocked 1:34.344 during the 26 lap first session.
“The track was very green and dusty to begin with, but we got on with the programme quickly and did the usual balance work, cooling checks and got a feel for both the medium and the soft tyres. The baseline set-up was not a long way off, but our focus for tomorrow is to improve our performance in the low-speed corners,” said Di Resta.
Hulkenberg said Force India made sure to run on all three sets of tyres to get desired data for the race.
“The session went okay and the car felt quite good out of the box, although there is still some fine-tuning to do in FP3,” he said.
Force India’s chief engineer Jakob Andreasen said: “A very busy morning programme with a lot to get through considering we haven’t raced in Bahrain for a couple of years. After the initial balance checks we looked at our brake and engine cooling solutions and dialled the cars into the circuit with some mechanical and aero set-up work. We have pretty much used up our tyre allocation this morning, which has given us all the data we need heading into tomorrow when we can hopefully deliver a strong qualifying performance.”
The Bahrain GP was cancelled last year after anti-government protests in the Gulf kingdom claimed nearly 50 lives.
- Force India suffer hydraulic problem at Mugello test - May 03, 2012
- Force India end mid-season test with full day of running - May 04, 2012
- Alonso takes pole in British GP qualifying, Nico 9th fastest - Jul 08, 2012
- Rosberg sets pace in second practice at Bahrain GP - Apr 20, 2012
- Force India draw blank in Canadian GP - Jun 11, 2012
- Substantial work left to ready car for Spanish GP: Di Resta - May 09, 2012
- Force India finish out of points at British GP - Jul 08, 2012
- Di Resta eighth fastest after 'intense' day of testing - Feb 24, 2012
- Vettel claims another pole, Sutil sneaks into 10th at European GP - Jun 25, 2011
- Force India's Di Resta feels making Q3 will be tough - Mar 23, 2012
- Force India's di Resta 8th fastest in Canadian GP qualifying - Jun 10, 2012
- Former Ferrari reserve driver Bianchi moves to Force India - Jan 27, 2012
- Vettel takes pole in Japan, Force India to start from sixth row - Oct 08, 2011
- Bahrain GP a massive result for Force India: Di Resta - Apr 23, 2012
- Force India target fifth place after Valencia show - Jun 27, 2012
Tags: bahrain grand prix, balance checks, balance work, chief engineer, cooling solutions, desert landscape, force india, free practice session, half an hour, india team, initial balance, low speed, nico hulkenberg, resta, safety reasons, sakhir circuit, soft compound, team members, tyre, tyres