Wheelnut problems lead to double retirement at Sepang
Monday 25 March 2013 15:10, UK
Force India's Bob Fernley reckoned a top-five finish was on the cards for the team prior to their double retirement from Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.
But with Force India having already scored a double points-finish in Australia, Fernley thinks their VJM06 can maintain its speed at the next race in Shanghai. "Pace-wise, hopefully you don't lose performance: you build on it. The car performed well in Australia, it's performed exceptionally well here and there's no reason why that shouldn't be the same for China," he said. "We're optimistic we can hold the pace. What's going to happen is that, as we go through the season, it's where the development comes from the other teams as well." McLaren, who have struggled so far this season, are the team most likely to jump ahead of Force India. "They'll come back - they're too good as an operation not to come back. I was hoping that we could capitalise on their problems and we had a number of our own. So it backfired on us slightly," Fernley added. "Hopefully we'll continue to do that if they haven't resolved their issues. The key is to maximise before they can."
