Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya says his team has recaptured its early-season form at a critical stage in the championship.
Mallya’s team has suffered a points drought in the second half of the season which coincided with the mid-season alterations to the tyres. They had come under increased pressure from Sauber for sixth place in the constructors’ championship but have pulled away after out-scoring their rivals in the last two rounds.
“I’m very pleased with the last couple of races,” Mallya declared. “As in the first part of the season, we’ve recaptured our form and maximised car performance.”
“We’ve managed the last two races very well and taken a different approach with the strategy. In Abu Dhabi we were the only team to achieve a one-stop race with both cars, which was a bold decision. We managed to pull off the perfect strategy and picked up the rewards.”
Force India now hold a 32-point lead over Sauber with two races remaining. “We’re certainly in better shape, but will never take anything for granted,” said Mallya.
“We’ve scored 15 points in two races and we now have some breathing space behind us. But we won’t change our approach heading to Austin. We will go there focussed on closing the gap to fifth place, which is just 18 points.”
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Image © Force India
OmarR-Pepper (@)
11th November 2013, 13:13
Di Resta is finally delivering decent results, so chasing McLaren is not delusional, but a real goal to try.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
11th November 2013, 13:58
@omarr-pepper 18 points? Don’t know if they will make it.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
11th November 2013, 14:05
@spoutnik It’s not so hard to imagine. Button had a terrible race strategy lately (India I think? don’t remember) and was out of points. Perez has good and bad days. If Di Resta and Sutil do things right AND the team doesn’t dissapoint them, they can get 10 or more points in COTA. It’s like all bad for McLaren and all good for Force India, but it may happen. If fortunes are reversed, so it’s game over.
Patrick (@paeschli)
11th November 2013, 17:00
I think FI needs the money more than McLaren, so I’m rooting for them ^^
bharat (@bharat141)
11th November 2013, 13:47
yeah. If FI outscore mclaren in COTA by 8-10 points then it will be very intresting at interlagos. But, it will be very difficult to out score mclaren by dat margin unless they pull off a stunning performance.
toiago (@toiago)
11th November 2013, 15:53
I disagree. I think they were lucky that Hulkenberg and Button’s races were ruined not down to their fault, so Force India’s results in Abu Dhabi might have been flattered by others’ misfortunes. And let’s not forget that Raikkonen didn’t feature in the top half of the grid, but could have gotten to a points scoring position by the end of the race hadn’t he retired.
laptopracer (@laptopracer)
11th November 2013, 18:14
With kimi not racing the last two races they do have a good chance, maybe alonso’s back problem will help them.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
12th November 2013, 0:04
Other teams have had their fortunes and FI have had their misfortunes as well. They regrouped pretty decently, and now seem to be at level with the other two teams in my opinion.
mhop (@mhop)
12th November 2013, 0:43
@toiago
a) Even without the drive-through Hulkenberg was no match for di Resta, and may well have finished outside the points.
b) How is Button crashing in to the back of someone (actually di Resta) “not down to [his] fault”?
c) And one retirement/mishap amongst the top 8 – I think that’s actually about average when you look at it.
Formula KID (@alexdell)
11th November 2013, 15:57
i thing it to early to say that…it’s a close fight…2 more races to go…
George (@george)
11th November 2013, 19:21
Well Hulkenberg is always strong in Brazil, so I wouldn’t count their chickens yet.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
11th November 2013, 21:47
Indeed, he nearly won in 2012! Some rain will put him right in contention for a huge points haul I’m sure.
mhop (@mhop)
12th November 2013, 0:35
@vettel1 @george
Or maybe, in the past, his teams have just successfully gambled on wet car set-ups???
Kingshark (@kingshark)
12th November 2013, 4:57
@mhop
He was really fast even when in Q3 the track was bone-dry in 2012, and the track was dry midway that race too, when he was leading the McLaren’s.
bharat (@bharat141)
12th November 2013, 5:04
hulk can get a massive points haul at brazil but the present points difference is very difficult to overcome in just 2 races. FI should perform badly to lose 6th in WCC. But, if BUT and PER dont up their game in next race, they wil definitely be in with a fight for 5th at interlagos.
I see that FI are back to where they started this season. Reasonably fast and able to do one stop less than all others. Getting another decent result at COTA shouldnt be a big problem for them but, what mclaren can do at COTA will decide how it will be going to brazil.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
12th November 2013, 7:10
@george Indeed, but Hulkenberg can’t overcome a 32-point deficit on his own – two podium finishes in the next two races is very unlikely, even if FI didn’t score at all. And you can’t really rely on Gutierrez to finish with decent points. So I think FI are more or less safe in sixth.
Aish Heydrich (@aish)
12th November 2013, 7:28
Has FI won a race ever?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th November 2013, 8:02
@aish No. In their former identity as Jordan they won four races, but not since then.
Aish Heydrich (@aish)
12th November 2013, 9:39
Ok Thanks.
bharat (@bharat141)
12th November 2013, 11:10
Their best result as FI is 2nd at 2009 belgian gp by Fisichella. He also got the pole position in that race. Only other time they looked like winning a race is the hulk at brazil 2012. If safety car was not employed it was a definite podium as hulk nd jenson had 40s gap to rest of the field.