Force India believes their fight with Williams will reach finals

F1 News – Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley says he expects his team’s fierce fight for fourth in the constructors’ championship with Williams to go down to the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Williams regained the advantage in Monza, but in Singapore fortune swung back in favour of Force India, despite a start-line crash for Nico Hulkenberg and an eight-place grid penalty for Sergio Perez.

Perez recovered to eighth after a good start and a bold decision to change tyres under the safety car at the end of the first lap, which left the Mexican with what was in effect a one-stopper to the flag.

The result was enough to give Force India a one-point advantage over Williams with six races to go.

“It’s nip and tuck,” Fernley told Motorsport.com. “I think Williams were hoping to capitalise in Monza, we were hoping to capitalise more in Singapore.

“Neither of us have done so, and it’s toe to toe now until the end of the season. It’s getting very exciting!”

Fernley believes Hulkenberg would have brought home a significant haul of points in Singapore had he not been hit by Carlos Sainz.

“When Nico’s accident happened I actually thought this is going to be a very long day, and a tough one,” he added. “First of all, his start was superb, it was one of those unfortunate things that he got squeezed out. It was a racing incident, it happens.

“It’s a shame he didn’t get rewarded for what was a super start, because I think had he been able to capitalise on that, he could have cruised to fifth place, and that would have been a really good result for us. That focussed our minds very much on surviving with Checo.”

Perez recovery “remarkable”

Perez lost only one place by pitting under the safety car as two of the cars behind him had to pit for attention after first lap contact, and Valtteri Bottas held up the queue behind him due to his puncture.

“The crew did a fantastic job,” continued Fernley. “We had a tiny window because of the way the safety car had come out, with a gap. We went down to 13th as a result of that, but it converted it effectively to a one-stop.

“And then it was very tight call whether to stay out a few more laps in the first stint to give us a bit more safety margin.

“The second stint was very, very stint. A remarkable job from the pit wall and a remarkable job from the driver. To say it was a brave strategy would be underestimating it.

“I think that was the difference, we were prepared to take that high risk strategy to pull it through. We had to make it work and we had to make it stick and it had to be a very brave. Credit to the pitwall.”

Category: Formula One