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Force India's Sergio Perez says that the team needs to be perfect in qualifying in order to emerge satisfied from the mid-field fight. The battle after the top three looks to be immensely close in 2018, as four or five teams could be fighting for the same target position.
While the Silverstone-based squad has run as the fourth fastest team for the past two seasons, it faces a challenge for that spot this year from McLaren and Renault, who both resurge towards the front of the grid, and Haas, who was the surprise of winter testing.
“We achieved a lot today,” Perez said of Friday practice. "There were a lot of new parts on the car and we needed to learn quickly. It’s only Friday and I think we can find more performance before qualifying. That’s always been our strength as a team and we need to work hard tonight understanding the data.
"I said during testing that all the teams are much closer together and if you look at the times it’s certainly the case. We need to be perfect in qualifying because a small mistake will drop you a long way back."
Teammate Esteban Ocon was also satisfied with how the day went. However, he affirmed that Saturday is a much more important day, and knows a lot of homework needs to be done overnight.
"For the first day of the season it was actually quite a normal day of practice,” Ocon reflected. "We had a lot of things to try on the car, but everything went to plan. It was all about learning and understanding the directions we need to take with the new package.
"We have already seen a step forward in performance compared to testing, but there’ is obviously some tuning to be done. The afternoon session was a bit frustrating because of the red flag and I always seemed to be stuck in traffic. Tomorrow is what counts, though, so we need to make sure we are ready and do our homework tonight.”
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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