13/05/2012
NEWS STORY
Sahara Force India scored a point in today's Spanish Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg came home in tenth place. Teammate Paul Di Resta finished in P14.
Nico Hulkenberg: A lot of hard work went into today's race so it's nice to get the reward of one point. It was a very tough race physically and there was never a moment to relax because I had Mark [Webber] filling my mirrors for the second half of the race. It was a great battle, with a lot of pressure, but fortunately I was able to keep him behind, which was not easy with the DRS on the main straight. Considering where I started it's good to score a point and I don't think we could have got much more from the race. The team did an excellent job with the pit stops and the strategy, and I'm pleased with what we achieved today.
Paul Di Resta: I'm disappointed not to have been further up in the battle for points because my race was looking promising to begin with. But as things unfolded I lost track position so I think we need to analyse why our performance on the hard tyres did not meet our expectations and exactly why we lost out. My main battle in the second half of the race was with the Toro Rossos, but they were on the soft tyres when I was on the hards and it was impossible to keep them behind me. I think it's just one of those races that didn't work out for me for whatever reason so we'll take it on the chin and look to come back stronger in Monaco.
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: Another very tough and competitive Grand Prix, so we are pleased to have picked up a point with Nico. It was a hard-earned point with an optimised strategy and brilliant driving, especially Nico's efforts to fend off Mark Webber in the final stages of the race. Paul was not far behind, but it was hard to keep him ahead of the Toro Rossos because our race pace was pretty similar and so we had to settle for P14. Looking back on the weekend as a whole we've seen once again that the entire field remains incredibly competitive and that we need to keep pushing hard to optimise the developments we have made to the car. We know there is more speed to come and we hope to demonstrate that in the next few races.
Check out our Grand Prix gallery, here.