Force India drivers to start 9th, 10th in German GP

Force India drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez will start ninth and 10th at the Formula 1 German Grand Prix at the 4.574 km Hockenheimring here Sunday.

Both the drivers made sure that their VJM07s entered Q3 Saturday but they could not go faster and had to be content with timings ranging in one minute and 18 seconds.

Merdedes driver and championship leader Nico Rosberg achieved his ninth career pole clocking 1:16.540 and will be starting ahead of the Williams' of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa in the 67-lap race.

"Making the top-10 with both cars was the target and the whole team should feel satisfied with our performance. With both cars starting from the fifth row, we are already well placed and our race pace should allow us to take a strong fight to the cars ahead of us," Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley said.

"The hot weather has normally suited us this year so we can feel quite relaxed about our performance if the hot weather continues. We have a good understanding of the tyres based on the work we did Friday and if we can make the right strategy calls, we can come away with a good helping of points."