Force India expecting tough battle with McLaren - Formula 1 news
Force India are looking to stay ahead of McLaren in the Constructor’s Championship this year, despite knowing that it will be extremely difficult for them to match
the development pace of the Woking-based outfit.
McLaren have gone off to a terrible start to the 2013 Formula season and their drivers Jenson Button and Sergio Perez have struggled to match the pace of front
running teams Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Adding insult to injury, McLaren have not even managed to stay fifth in the championship and are three points behind Force India after the end of four races. The
situation could have been much worse for them, had the latter team enjoyed some good luck.
Looking at the current situation, the Silverstone-based squad seems pretty much confident. However, they know it will be extremely hard to retain their position
over the longer run and will have to continue developing the car at a good pace.
According to the team’s deputy principal Bob Fernley, “Our goal was obviously to regain sixth as a minimum. We are fifth, just, and there are three points between
us and McLaren. Can we hold them off for the whole season? It will be tough, but we will give it a go. We have to be pragmatic about it, they are a good team.”
There has only been one occasion, when both the Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta finished in points in the same event. However, they feel that
they should be consistent enough to score as many points as possible with both cars.
Performance wise, the midfield team has shown the ability to score points with consistency, but their drivers have encountered bad luck on a few occasions, which
has cost them some useful points in the championship.
Fernley added, “We are competing against very strong teams and delivering. We are fighting hard with the cream and should be grateful we are there. In Bahrain,
we could easily have had two cars in the top six on merit.”
He went onto say that he expected things to be tougher this year, as the top teams appeared to be in a better position with tyre management.
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