Paul Di Resta put in another tremendous qualifying performance to put his Force India on the third row for the Singapore Grand Prix although his teammate Nico Hulkenberg was disappointed not to join him in the top ten. Di Resta is now looking to convert his position into points tomorrow as the team try and consolidate seventh in the Constructors Championship.
“I was very happy with the balance of the car yesterday, but struggled this afternoon during final practice and we seemed to lose our way. So we went back to basics and built up our speed again during qualifying and managed to deliver the lap time when it mattered during Q3 – in fact, it was my best lap of the weekend. So we’re in a strong position for tomorrow and hopefully we can come away with some big points. We looked quite competitive yesterday during long runs so we will focus on the strategy tonight and make sure we make the right calls tomorrow with the tyres.”
Hulkenberg felt he had the car capable of a much higher grid position than eleventh and blamed himself for making errors on his crucial last run in Q2.
“We had a car capable of reaching Q3 today, so I feel disappointed to miss out on the top ten. I just didn’t find a good rhythm in Q2 and my last lap was not good enough – I made a few small errors which cost me time and a place in Q3. Now I need to focus on making the most of tomorrow and doing what we can with the strategy. Starting eleventh means I get a free choice on tyres and we’ve seen already that tyre performance and degradation will be a big factor in the race. I need to get a clean start, get through the opening lap and see what I can do.”