Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez to start at 11th, 13th in Singapore

Singapore: Sahara Force India drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez will start at 11th and 13th respectively in the Singapore Grand Prix of the Formula One Championships here on Sunday.

Both Hulkenberg and Perez failed to finish at top-10 as they were eliminated in the Q2 round of the qualification sessions here.

Hulkenberg and Perez clocked 1m 46.305s and 1m 46.885s in the Q2 race to finish 11th and 13th respectively and could not take part in the Q3 qualifying race.

"It's a bit disappointing not to make the top ten, but at the same time I'm confident we can have a good race from P11. For whatever reason we did not have the harmony or performance we expected and I was not as happy with the balance as I was yesterday. I was chasing the set-up in final practice and we made some changes before qualifying, but we still could not find the sweet spot," Hulkenberg said.

"The car was quite snappy with some oversteer and it was not easy to get a tidy lap together. For tomorrow, the strategy decisions will be critical and we've seen over the years how unpredictable this place can be. It's always a tough race with high tyre degradation, especially the rears, and all the teams around us look quite evenly matched. We need to keep out of trouble and make right decisions with the strategy," he said.

Perez said, "I am disappointed as I think Q3 was possible. The yellow flag at the end of Q2 meant I could not finish what would have been my best lap, which is a shame, but sometimes things don't go your way. I don't think P13 reflects our true pace because we've done a very good job so far this weekend and we are continuing to take big steps forward.

"For tomorrow, there is plenty to fight for and it's a long race on a street circuit where anything can happen. Starting in the middle of the pack will be a challenge because overtaking is not easy here, but we will try and overcome this with a good strategy. We will need to be ready to maximise every opportunity," he said.