Hulkenberg, Perez to begin Australian GP from 14th, 15th spots

As expected, it was not a great result for Sahara Force India in the qualifying session for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez will start the season-opening race from the 14th and 15th spots respectively.

The Indian team failed to test its new car in the first two pre-season tests.

Both Hulkenberg, who clocked a fastest lap of 1:29.208s and Perez who recored best lap of 1:29.209s, faded in Q2.

"We always want to be further up the grid, but being realistic I don't think we had the performance today to challenge for Q3," Hulkenberg admitted.

"However, it's only the first qualifying session of the season, so it's still very early days and we have a lot of development work ahead of us. I enjoyed the qualifying session today. It was good fun out there and I felt comfortable in the car, and as a team we squeezed everything we could from the session."

Perez said it was a difficult qualifying session and the windy conditions seemed to have caused a big impact on the car.

"In terms of performance, I think we are where we predicted because we knew Q2 was achievable and we managed to get the maximum from the car. For tomorrow, we know this is a race where anything can happen, it's unpredictable and sometimes you have to be patient. We need to see what the weather is like because the wind and track temperature will play a big part," the Mexican said.

Image: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany and Force India drives during final practice for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne on Saturday

Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images