After enduring a tough Practice, Sahara Force India's Nico Hulkenberg managed to secure a 11th position on the grid while Sergio Perez qualified 13th for the Canadian Grand Prix here.
With his fastest lap of 1:16.300 in Q2, Hulkenberg just missed out on Q3 in a very tight qualifying session in which Nico Rosberg snatched pole from Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
"I was close to making the top ten - just half a tenth would have made the difference, but I think we've known since yesterday it was going to be quite tight in qualifying," Hulkenberg said.
"Having said that, P11 is a good starting position: it gives us some flexibility in terms of the strategy; I get to choose my starting tyres, and I'm feeling quite optimistic about our race pace. The pack is very close in terms of performance but it should be an interesting race because it's a circuit where overtaking is possible and history has shown that anything can happen here," the German added.
Sergio Perez, who was no far behind his teammate Hulkenberg with a lap of 1:16.472, said it was quite a tricky qualifying session that turned out to be a bit "harder than expected".
"I'm starting P13, but I'm still feeling very positive about our chances in the race because this is such an unusual track where you can move up the field and take advantage of whatever happens in the race. We have good top speed and that will certainly be important tomorrow."
Deputy Team Principal Robert Fernley said,"Starting in P11 and P13 means we are not in bad shape... In terms of car performance both drivers are feeling comfortable and the set-up changes made overnight moved us in the right direction, which gives us every reason to feel more optimistic for tomorrow. The race pace of most of the mid-pack teams has been quite similar and we are certainly up there and in contention to race for some good points.
