The Force India team were left disappointed by their performance during qualifying at Abu Dhabi today. Neither car made it into the top ten. Nico Hulkenberg, who was recently confirmed as a Sauber driver for next year, will start eleventh, with Paul di Resta not far behind in thirteenth.
“I expected a bit more from today, but it seemed that our car was no so competitive in the cooler temperatures because I felt much happier during final practice in the sunny conditions. So maybe the lower temperatures caught us out,” Hulkenberg said.
“I will start from eleventh, just one position away from the points, and I have a free choice of tyres so hopefully we can use that to our advantage to come away with some points.”
di Resta was left unhappy with the balance of his car.
“I’ve been struggling with the balance and the car has been quite difficult to drive this weekend, so it was always likely to be quite a tough qualifying session. Our long run pace hasn’t looked too bad but I’m just struggling to get the ultimate performance from the car,” the Scot said.
“We’re still in a reasonable position to try and score points and I’m feeling comfortable in the new chassis. We will play the long game tomorrow because I think it’s likely to be one of those races where tyres will probably last longer than expected.”
