07/10/2017
NEWS STORY
Sahara Force India showed well at Suzuka today with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez qualifying in seventh and eighth places for tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix.
Esteban Ocon: "I'm feeling very happy after qualifying. The car has been fantastic since the beginning of the weekend, just as it was in Malaysia, and our result today shows the progress we have made recently developing the car. Whether it's been wet or dry, the car has been quick, and we've only had to make small adjustments to find the performance. With some penalties for other drivers, it looks as though I will start the race from fifth place, so there's a great opportunity to score some big points."
Sergio Perez: "It's been a really good qualifying session for us. The team did a great job despite the limited running, splitting the practice programme between both cars to find the best set-up. I believe we maximised the potential of the car and got the best result we could today, so I am happy. My final lap in Q3 was good: I lost a little bit of time in the final chicane and that cost me a place to Esteban. He's done a really good job all weekend and together we have delivered an important qualifying result for the team. We were expecting a bigger fight in the midfield, but I am pleased we were this far ahead of our rivals and close to the Red Bulls. Tomorrow will be a long race but I think we can score a lot of points because our race pace is good."
Robert Fernley: "A very strong qualifying session with both drivers delivering on the promise we showed during practice. The car has been competitive all weekend and it's further validation of the excellent work we have done lately to keep pushing the development of the VJM10. With a couple of grid penalties for the cars ahead of us, we should move up on the grid with both cars and it means we are very well placed to score well tomorrow."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Suzuka, here.