Paul di Resta thinks that Force India can finish above McLaren in the constructors' standings

Paul di Resta thinks that Force India might be able to stay in front of McLaren in the Constructors' Championship this season.

This weekend's German GP will see teams use a new Pirelli rear tyre in response to the series of blow-outs seen last weekend. It's the same tyre which Force India - together with Lotus and Ferrari - vetoed ahead of the British GP as they were fearful that it might place them at a competitive disadvantage. Yet di Resta, buoyed by his performance at his home race, thinks they can retain the gap to McLaren regardless. "I think it's probably a bit more than tyres at the moment. If we'd qualified 12th at Silverstone and been fifth quickest in the race then maybe. But the fact is we qualified fifth and raced quite well," he said. "People tried the tyre very slightly in Canada and I don't think it'll influence the running order too much." Meanwhile, di Resta is still perplexed by the circumstances surrounding his exclusion from qualifying at Silverstone. The combined weight of car and driver were found to be below the legal minimum but a discrepancy was also noted on the scales drivers are weighed on. Despite having good grounds to do so, Force India decided not to appeal the decision of FIA stewards, with di Resta quipping: "I've been eating a lot of pies this week. On Saturday, when we got told about the weight, I couldn't help but laugh about it. I'm so much more relaxed than I thought. "I suppose the sense of relief was that I knew it didn't influence the qualifying result. I knew I'd qualified fifth, so it didn't take that away because it was a kilo. What would that have been, 1/200th or something? "It was difficult in that I didn't get a chance to show what I could have done." As for this weekend's race, the 27-year-old added: "I don't really know here. I think it's because you come here every two years so you lose sense of where you are. "I think the aim should be as we were at Silverstone. It was only seven days ago we were at that grand prix. I think the top eight in qualifying is achievable and anywhere in the top eight in the race will be a bag full of points to take away from here and be satisfied."