Vijay Mallya hopes to end Force India’s podium drought – Formula 1 news
Vijay Mallya is confident that Force India are going to end the podium drought sometime soon.
Last time the team managed to do that was in Belgium back in 2009, when Giancarlo Fisichella finished second behind the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
However, things did not work out well for the Silverstone-based squad after that solid result and they struggled for the next several seasons.
Last year, Force India finished on a high, which gave some hope to the entire team. Since there were no major rule changes, most of the teams continued developing their machines from the 2012 season.
Due to this, both the Force India drivers Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil have shown some competitiveness since the start of the year. The former of the two came close to scoring a podium in Spain, but missed out narrowly in the end.
However, Mallya feels that Montreal could bring some luck for the team. He said, “I think we are now knocking on the door of our first podium finish since 2009, and it's time to do that all-important step. Montreal would be a great place to do so - it is
a track that favours overtaking and our car has shown the race pace to finish among the leaders, so everything is possible.”
At the moment, the Sahara-sponsored team is fifth in the Constructor’s Championship, which is quite a brilliant achievement for them. They have kept the likes of McLaren behind, which no one could have predicted before the start of the season.
Although it appears quite easy for Force India to maintain their lead in the championship, Mallya says that this cannot be achieved without luck.
The team principal added, “With a bit more luck, we would be even further ahead of McLaren. We know our rivals will be more competitive in the next few rounds, but we have shown we can mix with the big teams and we intend to do so for the coming races too.”
On the other hand, McLaren have also been making steady progress and the team will be looking forward to the Canadian GP. They will be brining in some major upgrades, which might give them an edge over Force India, who are currently seven points ahead.
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