Force India is having its best ever season. This has been masked by the large improvements of Williams and Sauber. A double score at Spa-Francorchamps last time out has moved Force India to within 21 points of Sauber, which lost both cars in the pile-up at the start of the race caused by French Lotus driver Romain Grosjean.
“I think it was probably our most competitive showing of the year in terms of race pace,” Mallya says. “Nico ended the race just a couple of seconds behind Räikkönen and came very close to the podium. In terms of strategy, the pit wall called things perfectly and Nico did the rest by racing hard and making no mistakes.
“I remember this time last year saying that it was the most competitive season ever in the midfield, but this year has surpassed even that. Sauber and Williams have been on the podium and will continue to be strong in the remaining races. But at the same time I believe we have the car and the team to beat them. I also remember last year we performed better in the second half of the season, so I’m optimistic for the remaining races.”
When the Indian was asked if the team can keep up its strong run, he said: “We need to. The car was working well at Spa and looked competitive on the straights, so I’m hopeful we can carry this over to Monza where we run with even less downforce.”
Three years ago former Force India driver Adrian Sutil qualified on the front row and finished the race in fourth position at Monza in Italy.
