Force India's Mallya sets sights on beating Renault
By Jonathan Noble
Friday, September 30th 2011, 09:13 GMT
Vijay Mallya wants his team to knuckle down and focus on trying to beat Renault to fifth place in the constructors' championship, on the back of an encouraging run of results.
The Silverstone-based outfit is 22 points behind Renault in the standings with five grands prix remaining, but has taken 24 points out of its Enstone rivals in the last four races.
In Singapore last weekend, the team delivered its best performance of the season, as Paul di Resta finished sixth and Adrian Sutil eighth.
With television rights money at stake for each constructors' championship position, Mallya senses a real opportunity for his outfit - as he thinks it is capable of delivering at all types of tracks now.
"We are a team that has great spirit," Mallya told AUTOSPORT. "We have worked very well together and I have worked very hard on motivating everyone in the team.
"I speak the truth. I told them I cannot afford a big manufacturer team budget, we have to do the best we can on limited resources.
"We were always known as a team that would perform well on low downforce tracks. I have often been asked in Spa/Monza, 'oh this is a track that suits your car so you should do well', and I said,' look, if we want to be anywhere in the constructors' championship and score points then we need to build a car that is capable of racing and being competitive everywhere'.
"I think we proved our point in Singapore. On a high downforce track, we scored a fantastic sixth and eighth top ten result, beating some of the big teams, and that shows the commitment of all the people involved. Congratulations to all of them, I am so proud, and we are now close enough to Renault.
"Before Monza I said we had to get ahead of Sauber and secure P6 in the constructors' championship. After Singapore I have set my sights and say we should secure P5. There are still a few races to go, and I am sure this team is going to give its best."
Although Force India does not have the financial might of many of its rivals, Mallya thinks that the attitude of its workforce has been key in allowing it to deliver.
"It is not that we have no development or facilities, but it is just the sheer commitment, and creative thinking and passion that our guys have that really deserves credit," he said.
Credit: AUTOSPORT.COM (www.autosport.com)
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