“Punching above its weight” has been a metaphor strongly associated with Force India in recent seasons, their first half of the season means that the metaphor can be used to describe the team’s 2014 efforts once again. After finishing 6th in the constructors championship last season, having conceded 5th to McLaren during the second half of the season to ensure they were better placed than most to benefit from the overhaul in technical regulations for this year, the team were hopeful that the decision to place more emphasis on the following season would bear fruit, especially with the Mercedes power unit being rumoured to have a considerable advantage over engine rivals Renault and Ferrari.
2014 saw Force India emptying the water in the glass and filling it up with new water, with the team based in Silverstone replacing both of their drivers from the previous season for the first time in the team’s six year history, acquiring the services of Nico Hulkenberg once more after switching to midfield rivals Sauber for 2013 and bringing in Sergio Perez from McLaren to partner him, pitting together two of the most highly-rated talents in recent seasons and probably forming Force India’s most exciting driver lineup.
Pre-season testing seemed to reveal a Force India car that, much like previous seasons, would be one of the leading midfield runners in terms of performance, but being equipped with a Mercedes engine that was superior in both reliability and horsepower after the first, clear indications was to put the team in a position to punch above their weight again and serve them well in potentially causing a few surprises.
Kicking off the season with both drivers scoring points in the season-opener at Australia was a fine way of opening their account for the campaign, with Hulkenberg coming home in 6th while Perez managed to get a point onboard after being promoted to 10th following Daniel Ricciardo’s exclusion from the race. Their unique race strategies put them in great points-scoring opportunities that have mostly been taken, races in Malaysia and Austria spring to mind with Hulkenberg adopting a two-stop strategy to finish 5th in Malaysia while Perez’ one-stop strategy in Austria climbed him up to 6th from 15th on the grid, showcasing the car’s strength in making best use of the tyres when need be and make up for the car’s weakness over a single-lap relative to race pace despite Hulkenberg being able to reach Q3 more often than not.
The surprise came in Bahrain, where Perez capitalised on his best grid start of the year, another differing race strategy and some help from Hulkenberg fending off the Red Bulls in the latter stages of the race to come home in 3rd and grab the team’s first podium since the Belgian Grand Prix in 2009, Hulkenberg following behind in 5th saw Force India record their highest points total in a race and is unquestionably the high point of their season thus far. More of the same should’ve followed in Canada, with Perez running as high as 2nd when set to pounce on race leader Nico Rosberg and his brake problems before experiencing similar problems himself and a likely podium finish, along with a possible race win, faded as he dropped behind Ricciardo and crashed out dramatically on the last-lap after his high-speed collision with Felipe Massa.
Putting the opportunism of Bahrain and the shortcomings of Canada aside, the team have reached the chequered flag with points added to their tally in every race but the last in Hungary, which brought more disappointment with the team’s first double retirement of the season, and ran as high as 2nd in the constructors championship behind the conquering Mercedes team, with the team admitting that tracks like Spain and Monaco were ill-suited to the car but still came away from those tracks with results. For a team allegedly budgeted as the 3rd lowest on the grid, the two feats of scoring points in all but one race and being second best to a supreme Mercedes at one point cannot be ignored and will be looking to build on those achievements as the second half of the season beckons.
Nico Hulkenberg – 69 points/7th in the Driver’s championship
Hulkenberg rejoined Force India in a move that’s seen by many as a sideways one after being overlooked by the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus for a race seat. Building on his eye-catching performances for Sauber in the back end of last season, his performances this season have been similar but somewhat more under the radar given the surprises of other drivers and teams: more often than not qualifying in the top ten in a Force India that is not particularly strong on one-lap pace, and defining consistency having scored points in every race up until Hungary, where a rare mistake with him making contact with team-mate Perez ultimately forced him into retirement.
Few races like Bahrain, Spain and Austria have seen him come off 2nd best to Perez on race day, but still picked up useful points for the team to solidify the team’s place among the top 5 in the constructors championship and again showed his credentials of out-driving the car when the German finished his home race in 7th but referred to the car as a “dog” after the race on the team radio having adapted to a race strategy involving him making one stop fewer than his rivals , a feature of his that’s aided his points tally this season. Disappointments in qualifying have been made up for by making up ground in the races: namely Monaco from 11th, where he pulled a superb pass on Kevin Magnussen into Portier on his way to 5th to compliment his fine race craft, and again in Bahrain from 12th to 5th.
It’s a blessing in disguise that Lotus preferred Pastor Maldonado instead and that Hulkenberg opted not to remain with Sauber, with the aforementioned teams having experienced a season thus far where they’ve gone backwards and among the midfield runners most struggling, it’s a sideways move – but currently a shrewd move with hindsight and the German declaring 2014 as the best year of his Formula 1 career is perhaps partly down to the decision to return to Force India, a decision that may have kept some hope of him getting a drive for a top team. If history is anything to go by, the second half of Hulkenberg’s season is set up to be even stronger than the first.
Sergio Perez – 29 points/11th in the Driver’s Championship
Ousted, arguably wrongfully, by McLaren after just one season to pave the way for Kevin Magnussen, Force India has become the place for Perez to heal some of the wounds inflicted by that decision. His performances have fluctuated in the first half of the season – from not starting in Malaysia to grabbing a stunning podium in Bahrain to being brought back down to earth in China having to perform a recovery drive to scrap a few points after starting a lowly 17th.
Being prone to incidents, opening laps in Australia, Monaco and Silvestone spring to mind, occasional unreliability and general struggles to get to grips with the Force India, are the main reasons for the Mexican not being able to show the consistency his team-mate Hulkenberg has exercised effectively. Underneath all the troubles have been mature, opportunistic drives in Bahrain and Austria, where he adopted the unconventional one-stop strategies, and thus displaying the arts of tyre preservation he was renowned for showing in his Sauber days, to put him in the prime positions to achieve the strong results he did, including getting the team’s elusive podium, their first in four years. The irony of the different tyre strategies is that Perez has been critical of the conservative approach Pirelli took towards the tyres for this season, yet he and Hulkenberg have arguably made best use of them.
Canada, where he was on course for another podium, was a wasted opportunity by no means when he collided with Felipe Massa on the final lap and the last race in Hungary did its best to sum up Perez’ first half season and explain why Hulkenberg has over double the number of points: being inhibted by car problems in qualifying especially unlike Hulkenberg and greater exposure to incidents when caught out by the wet astroturf on the track and crashed out on the final corner during the race.
Having considered quitting the sport after being hung out to dry by McLaren, Perez has been gifted a second chance to showcase why he was (and still is) among the talented and has personally settled into Force India nicely whilst giving away the glimpses. Regularly scoring points along with Hulkenberg and being able to successfully dial in the car for qualifying, like in Bahrain and Monaco, should be aims of his for the second half of the season.
Race Results so far:
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Performance Comparison so far:
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As far as the team is concerned as a whole, team principal Vijay Mallya has declared his happiness to retain both Hulkenberg and Perez for next season, with harmony present in the drivers’ relationships with one another, this still isn’t something that’s easy to achieve by the team’s management despite not having a dominant car like the Mercedes works team, given the hungry and competitive nature of the two whose eyes are always looking towards the front of the grid. They may not have the resources of the likes of McLaren and Ferrari to prolong their challenge for the remainder of the second half of the season, but being already 11 points off their best total throughout a season with Hulkenberg striking consistency while Perez is the one with the prized accolade for the team, and Mallya wants more – stating it’s the team’s objective to maximise the remaining eight races. There could well be more to come.
