Greater Noida: A slight 'improvement' in the car makes Sahara Force India drivers confident that they can fight for points in their home race Sunday despite managing P12 and P13 on the grid.
Paul di Resta, who will begin the race ahead of Adrian Sutil, said he was pleased with his qualifying result. "I think we can be satisfied with the job we've done today. My lap in Q2 was very good, although I made a small mistake in the second to last corner, so I was maybe a couple of tenths away from the perfect lap. It definitely feels like we've made some progress recently and my confidence is growing with the way the car is working at the moment," Di Resta said.
"Going into our home race we are only a couple of places away from points, so we're in the mix and if we can deliver the right strategy we should be able to come away with something," he added. Force India need to consolidate their position as Sauber are catching them fast. Just 17 points separate the two teams, battling for sixth position.
Sutil felt that since they are not far behind on the grid, points were a possibility. "P13 is more or less the position I expected today. The balance was not perfect for my last run and I was suffering with some under-steer, so maybe I could have been a couple of tenths quicker. As a team we are P12 and P13 so I think we're still in with a good chance of scoring points," he said.
The German racer's choice of tyre won't make much of a difference. "The strategy options are quite limited because the medium tyre is a very good race tyre, more so than the soft. It's our home race and I really enjoy this track so I hope we can put on a good show tomorrow in front of the Indian fans," he said. Team Principal Vijay Mallya felt the car was more competitive than in previous races.
"I think our performance today confirms that. The times in final practice showed the progress made overnight and it's encouraging to hear that the drivers are feeling more confident with the car, which is what we've been missing recently," he said.
Mallya hoped that they won't return empty-handed from the home race. "We will approach tomorrow's race with points being the clear goal. It's something we have achieved for the past couple of years and I'm optimistic that we will have the race pace to take the fight to the cars around us and deliver some points in our home race," he said.
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