F1Insider Featured Article: Perez takes Force India to the Podium

Late last year, one of the biggest questions in F1 was "Where will Sergio Perez land?" - The young driver from Mexico was replaced at McLaren with Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen. Although there is no hard feelings between Perez and the Woking-based team, he still needed somewhere to go.

Sergio was picked up by Force India at the end of 2013 and partnered with Nico Hulkenberg, who drove for Sauber that year. Sergio has never been a driver for Force India before, but was welcomed and greeted like a part of the family.

The team had only ever got a podium finish once, back in 2009 and while most people would rate them as "Midfield" - I rate them much higher and say they're in the same playing field as Mercedes this year. With 3 races already completed this year, Nico finished all 3 in the top 10. Sergio, unable to start in Malaysia, shocked many when he rose to secure 3rd in Bahrain, getting the first Podium for the team in over 5 years. It was an incredible feeling, as he was quoted saying he'd almost "Quit" F1 after being left-out of McLaren's 2014 Line-Up. He didn't want to take a back-marker seat just to stay in the sport. He wanted a good team and car capable of winning and it seems he has it this year.

I believe both he and Nico can finish on the podium more than once this year and I'm definitely cheering them on.

Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
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Bahrain GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Force India

Next quotes are from the Sahara Force India team!

 Nico Hulkenberg - "The performance in Malaysia was very encouraging, especially because we managed it with a two-stop strategy and nobody else near the front managed that. We've had two good races and have scored a lot of points already. I think we have a strong foundation and we can now build on that. The car is good, but there are still areas that we need to focus and work on so we have to keep the development rate high. In terms of performance I expect something similar to Malaysia. I think the aim must be for us to qualify in the top ten again and score some more points. To be honest Bahrain hasn't been the best place for me and I've never had a good result there. So we're going to change that this year!"

Sergio Perez - "It's a very good thing that the disappointment will only last a couple of days before we go to Bahrain, so I'm looking forward to it. The whole weekend in Malaysia was frustrating, but hopefully we can achieve a great result in Bahrain. I feel that we are in good shape, so hopefully we can deliver a strong performance there. If we keep out of trouble, we should have the pace to score points and get our season back on track. Last year I had a good race with McLaren and it was one of my best races. Also, I won there in GP2. Normally it's a good track for me, so I'm looking forward to it."

Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
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Quotes made by Drivers.

Malaysian GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Force India

Next quotes from Sahara Force India's driver duo.

Nico Hulkenberg - “Malaysia is going to be a tough challenge with totally different track characteristics and higher temperatures, which always leads to higher tyre degradation. It should be a good test of the new cars because it’s much more open than Melbourne with a nice variation of high and low-speed corners, plus two long straights.”

Sergio Perez - “I think as a team we are moving in the right direction and there were lots of positives to take away from Australia. It was the first race and we, as everyone else on the grid, are still learning a lot about the new car. We have seen some encouraging signs and collected a lot of data that can be put to use for the next few races, starting in Sepang. “I believe Malaysia can be a very good race for us. Let's see how we can perform there. I think Melbourne was a more difficult one for us and with a hotter track and more rear tyre degradation for everyone we can be stronger. I'm counting the days to Malaysia to recover what we couldn't achieve in Australia. I have good memories of this track and I want to build on my previous results there.”

Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
No Copyright Infringement Intended.
Quotes made by Drivers.