In an interview with Autosport yesterday, Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg hopes that Force India will improve on their 2014 performance this season after having challenged for fifth place in the 2014 Championship.
Hulkenberg and his team-mate Sergio Perez had a solid start to last year’s campaign as they took the fight to powerhouses Ferrari and McLaren. However, as the season progressed, Force India lost ground and eventually finished sixth.
The results though, were nonetheless encouraging and in his interview with Autosport yesterday, Hulkenberg is hoping the team will build on that in 2015. Hulkenberg stated the following:-
‘I hope we can improve, get a little better again and make another step in the right direction. We slipped behind a little bit in the second half of the season, so we need to have a very good and efficient winter to start with a good car again.
‘Then the aim and the target is for us to be as good and consistent as we were at the beginning of the 2014 season.’
It is clear that Hulkenberg wants the Force India team to use the solid platform and foundation that they achieved in 2014 and make more steps forward to increase their performance on the track this season. Even though the team did slip behind in the second half of the 2014 season as Hulkenberg points out, they should be proud of what they have achieved last year and use this as motivation to build upon this season, with the knowledge that they can achieve a soild level of consistency during a season
Further on in his interview yesterday with Autosport, Hulkenberg hailed the advancements Force India, who he first joined as a test driver back in 2011 have made over the years. Hulkenberg added the following:-
‘There is progression, but people can’t look behind the scenes at Force India so maybe it’s hard to see if you just look at the results. Me having been here for the first time in 2011, and having left and come back, I can see big changes.
‘The team has a bigger infrastructure, more people and has a stronger team at the factory.’
With Hulkenberg’s history with the Force India team, it is clear that over the past few years that they have progressed behind the scenes, even if the results sometimes don’t show this fact. But Hulkenberg as he rightly says will notice the differences especially after re-joining the team in 2014 after spending a year with Sauber in 2013.
But all you can say overall is that Hulkenberg and Force India quite rightly will want to improve on what they have achieved in 2014 this season. Even though as we know Force India don’t have the resources or the capital that the top teams have currently in the sport, they do the best with what they have under their disposal and are capable of delivering a fast, consistent and reliable car.
And that is what the team and Hulkenberg have to aim for this season. I do truly believe that if Force India push with everything they have during the season, we could see a surprise in 2015 and with two talented drivers in their line up, anything could happen. But if anyone deserves to have this level of success in the sport, it is without a shadow of doubt Nico and I hope that this can be achieved for him and the Force India team in 2015, I really do.
