Force India team principal Vijay Mallya believes his team can “bring home some big points” from this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Both Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil had to retire from the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a wheel nut problem which blighted the team’s pit-stops, with both drivers having been running competitively. Mallya said he has been encouraged by the progress made by Force India so far this season and that it will quickly move on from the disappointment of Sepang.
“China has always produced spectacular races and it’s not uncommon to experience some wet weather, but we know that both our drivers and the VJM06 are comfortable in all conditions,” Mallya said. “It shows how far we have come as a team. In the past we used to hope for rain as our only chance to upset the front-runners, but now we are more competitive in all conditions.
“The next two weekends, with races in China and Bahrain, will put us in a position to see where we really stand in comparison with our rivals. Everyone in the team is looking forward to this challenge and I am confident we will put the disappointment of Malaysia behind us and bring home some big points.”
Mallya also said that Force India had spent the gap between races ensuring it doesn’t suffer a repeat of the problem which ended its race in Malaysia.
“Even though the last race in Malaysia was very disappointing, I know we have the potential to bounce back quickly and get a good result in Shanghai. Throughout the Sepang weekend, we had a quick car and the drivers felt good about their chances. We were confident of bringing both cars home in the points until the wheel nut issue let us down. We’ve had three weeks to understand what went wrong and have worked hard fix the root cause of the problem.”
Info: ESPN F1, Image: Force India
