Sat: Force India, McLaren, Manor

Editor

Force India failed to impress in Saturday's qualifying in China, joining McLaren and Manor at the back of timesheets…

Force India:
Sergio Perez:
"I had a couple of pretty good, clean laps in Q1 and that was enough to take me through to Q2. I think we got the maximum from the first session and that’s why we approached Q2 with the race in mind because having enough sets of new tyres will make an important difference on Sunday. I’m looking forward to the race and seeing what we can do. We need to look at the strategy options tonight to make sure we pick the right one. If we can make a good start and find a nice rhythm tomorrow, we can certainly look at challenging for points."

Nico Hulkenberg: "It was disappointing to go out in Q1 but unfortunately the final lap just was not quick enough. I lost a bit of lap time with a small mistake as I was pushing hard, trying to get everything out of the car and that caused us to miss out. We know there is a lot of work ahead of us to develop this car and get its performance to the level we expect from it, but we know this is a process that takes time: it is just a matter of pushing hard to get better week after week. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we are aiming to be fighting for some points. It is not going to be an easy task but we will give it our best shot."

McLaren:
Jenson Button:
"I guess we hoped we might be just a bit closer than we were today; in practice, we’d looked a bit more competitive, certainly. We’d found a reasonably good balance with the car, in fact, but the lap-time isn’t quite there yet. In addition, the cars in front of us seemed to make a big leap forward this afternoon – whereas we didn’t – so we’ll need to find out why that was. So, overall, we’ve made some improvements this weekend, but qualifying just didn't go our way. Hopefully, things will be better tomorrow, and we’ll be able to race some of the cars that will start in front of us on the grid."

Fernando Alonso: "We were two tenths away from the mid-pack – and close to getting into Q2 – today. We’re getting there, and this is another step forward, but we’re still under-performing, so we need to keep improving. Our main priority now is to finish tomorrow’s race; that’ll allow us to learn more about the car and uncover any possible problems. Obviously, two DNFs in Malaysia wasn’t an ideal situation for us, so, regardless of the result, we need to make the finish here in China. This has been another positive weekend – everyone in the team is excited about the progress we’re making."

Manor GP:
Will Stevens:
"It’s always good to feel progress being made and we’ve been making big strides from session to session here. There’s still a long way to go but the progress over the past three weekends is clear for everyone to see. The trouble-free practice sessions have really helped us to find a rhythm that has enabled us to make the right set-up changes. The car felt good and I was pretty happy with my lap, so we go into tomorrow in a comfortable position. I’m eager for my first race distance in the car and plenty more data to help the team develop, so fingers crossed we can have a good race."

Roberto Merhi: "I’m a little disappointed today but a good result for the team. This morning I experienced an electronics problem a couple of times, which lost us a little momentum and also I missed my option tyre run in FP3. Overall I think we have seen a good improvement during the weekend though, so I think we will be better in the race tomorrow."