Greater Noida, Oct 27: Their grid positions for the home race are not encouraging but Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg says since the gap with the cars ahead is not much he is still confident of delivering a good result.
Hulkenberg will start tomorrow's Indian Grand Prix in the 12th positions while Paul di Resta qualified 16th, his worst show in the qualifying this season.
With just four races left, Force India need to score good points if they have to finish sixth in the constructors' championship. They are trailing Sauber by 27 points with 89 points in the pocket.
Now that Sauber' Sergio Perez has qualified eighth for the race, it will be tough for Force India to reduce the gap if they return empty-handed tomorrow.
Hulkenberg has been fantastic for the side this year and has scored points despite starting the race from as back as 15th.
“I guess that some other cars have picked up pace today and that's why we are behind them. I still have confidence for the race because we have seen how close the times are today and we were not too far away from the top ten. The other good news is that we can pick our starting tyres for the race, so our focus tonight is to think hard about the strategy,” Hulkenberg said after the qualifying session.
The German said he got maximum out of the car and it was not possible to do beyond that.
“We went into the session targeting and expecting to make Q3, so it's a bit disappointing to miss out. After the first part of qualifying it was clear that it was going to be a big task, but obviously you always try and believe it is possible. My lap in Q2 was actually pretty good with no mistakes and that was just the maximum for us today,” he said.
Paul di Resta said after today's result they have to do a lot of work overnight to get a good result.
