Sahara Force India secured their third double points finish in four races after Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez came sixth and ninth in the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Silverstone squad showed strong race pace on a two-stop strategy after struggling in a wet qualifying on Saturday when Hulkenberg and Perez were eighth and 16th fastest.
The German did well to keep the charging Williams of Valtteri Bottas at bay on the final lap of the 54-lap race.
“At the end it got a bit tricky. If it was one lap longer, Valterri (Bottas) probably could have DRSed me,” said Hulkenberg, who has moved a place down to be fourth in the drivers’ standings ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.
Hulkenberg addded: “It was a straightforward race, not much to do except manage my tyres, manage my pace and not make a mistake.
“It was not as strong as Bahrain. The strategy was optimal, which shows us we’ve got some homework to do. We’ve beaten all the other customer Mercedes cars, that’s our main competition.”
Force India collected ten points at the Shanghai International Circuit but slipped a place to be third in the standings with 56 points behind Mercedes (154 points) and Red Bull (57) and ahead of Ferrari (52) and McLaren (43), who had another poor race.
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