Hulkenberg and Sahara Force India fastest on first day of Bahrain test

As teams returned to testing this week at Bahrain International Circuit, Sahara Force India had a good first day, completing 79 laps with a chart-topping time of 1:36.880.

Nico Hulkenberg:

“A very positive and satisfying day. We had a busy programme and we learned a lot. Time in the car is very valuable at the moment and so it feels good to cover so many laps and even complete two long runs at the end of the day. That gave me a chance to see how the car behaves and to start getting a feel for it, which was not something I was able to do in Jerez. It’s great that we’ve already done some set-up work and started to improve the drivability of the car. But it’s still very early stages; we are learning with every lap and we face a very steep learning curve in the coming days. ”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer:

“Our Bahrain test has got off to a positive start. 79 laps is a good effort and it’s just what we need at this early stage of the VJM07’s development. The aero work this morning ran smoothly with the constant speed runs giving us some aero data we required. In the afternoon we started evaluating the soft and medium tyres, and running through different set-up options – changing ride heights and rebalancing the car. We ended the day with a couple of longer runs on the soft tyres.”

Test driving schedule

Nico Hulkenberg will be back in the VJM07 tomorrow. Sergio Perez will drive on Friday and Saturday.