Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley is hoping Paul di Resta's sixth place finish in Bahrain will give Force India a base to build on.
Team hopeful of building on Di Resta's sixth in Bahrain
Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley is hoping Paul di Resta's sixth place finish in Bahrain will give Force India a base to build on for the rest of the season.
Although the team knew the car wasn't going to be as competitive as they hoped during the opening four fly away races, a superb drive from the Scot last Sunday saw him equal his best ever finish in Formula 1.
The team are planning on bringing a major upgrade package to the Mugello test next week, which they hope will close the gap to front-running teams.
"Our plan heading into the first four races was to use good race craft and good strategy with a car that perhaps wasn't where we wanted it to be," Fernley said.
"And I think we delivered on that quite well, with only the one bad result in Shanghai.
"We're probably better off than we thought in some ways, but we still have to deliver the next bit.
"Of course, we've some wonderful teams around us who are not sitting still either, so it depends on what they deliver and whether we can close the gap.
"As to whether we've given ourselves a platform now, and with the package to come, hopefully the answer is yes."
Di Resta is also hopeful that the package will see a major boost in performance for the Silverstone-based team.
"After what Sauber did in Malaysia (with Sergio Perez finishing second), it keeps them in our sights," said Di Resta.
"If we now put performance on this car then we can get by them. We always knew maintaining sixth place (in the Constructors' Championship) this year was going to be difficult.
"But we'll keep on track, picking up the points we're doing, and being realistic about it, if we can get results like the one in Bahrain then they are like wins to us as a midfield team.
"So we've got to be happy and hopeful the upgrade we're going to bolt on the car keeps us in this position going into Barcelona."
