23/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Sahara Force India had a busy day of practice on the Baku Street Circuit, ending the day with both cars inside the top 10.
Sergio Perez: "First and foremost, I want to thank my mechanics and the whole team for fixing the car so quickly. They are some of the best guys in the pit lane and they showed exactly why. This morning was all about trying to find the limits, and I think we did - it was good it happened today rather than tomorrow. It was a bit of a messy day, not just with what happened in FP1 but also because of all the yellow and red flags breaking the flow of the sessions. I still think we are in a good position. Tonight we will need to work out the best set-up: I feel we have a good potential for the weekend, we just have to put it all together when it matters."
Esteban Ocon: "I'm pretty happy about today. We had good pace in the car and I felt quite comfortable right from the start. I feel we couldn't really show our speed because of all the yellow flags and the traffic I found on my quick laps, but it doesn't matter. The important days for this weekend are yet to come. It was my first time around this circuit, so the priority was to keep out of trouble: this is not an easy track to learn but I enjoy the challenge. It's a narrow circuit and it's very easy to brake a bit too late, which is why there were so many yellow flags."
Robert Fernley: "It was not the most straightforward of Fridays, with Sergio's unfortunate crash during the first practice session. The crew did a truly fantastic job to replace all the broken components and get the car out for the start of FP2, which allowed us to complete a full programme this afternoon. Aside from the incident, it was a productive day. We witnessed a lot of track evolution, which is normal for a temporary street circuit: together with the conservative range of tyre compounds, it meant a lot of our work was about understanding the tyres and getting them to work. The sessions had a lot of interruptions, with many yellow and red flags, which disrupted everyone's performance runs, so we chose to focus on high fuel running. We were also able to split some test items between the two cars. We have plenty to analyse tonight - the initial feeling is positive but there is always room for improvement. Our performance today was reasonable, but it is still too early to tell where we stand."
Check out our Friday gallery from Baku, here.