The Force India Formula One Team is extremely optimistic about getting the Q2 place in the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix after narrowly missing the Q2 spot in Malaysia for the first time in over a season that too by just 0.05secs.
The strong progress exhibited by the team in the opening rounds of the FIA Formula One World Championship keeps them in good stead as Giancarlo Fisichella raced competitively for 12th position overall in the last week’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
The team principal Colin Kolles eyes a target of Q2 and a double finish, “Our aims for this race have to be to get into Q2 and achieve a double finish. This is, I believe, a realistic goal as we have new aero parts for this race that should give another improvement and sorted out the issues on Adrian's car,” quoted Kolles in Force India website.
Force India has also improved its average lap time by over two seconds, the biggest improvement of the F1 grid, and now goes to Bahrain hoping to confirm these improvements to achieve its first double finish of the year.
According to Force India chairman and managing director Dr Vijay Mallya, “When Force India came into the sport just a few months ago, some observers expected us to be just happy on the grid but these last two races have resolutely shown that we are not just in it for the taking part, we want to race competitively.”
“We have done our maths and we have looked at the statistics and have improved by over two seconds from this time last year. This is not a sign of a team just pleased to be here,” added Mallya.
“As we showed in the race in Malaysia we now have a car that can race competitively and, looking at the data from the first two races, it is clear that we have made a big step forward from last season's performance,” feels Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer Force India.
“The most significant reason for this improvement has been aerodynamic coupled with the continuing use of the Aerolab facility. Now we are really starting to see the results. We were very close to getting into Q2, and hopefully this new step will allow us to get there in Bahrain,” added Gascoyne.
“I enjoy the Bahrain Grand Prix. It is a good track with a long straight that can be very enjoyable if you have a good engine, which we do. There are of course a couple of tricky corners and it is very demanding on brakes, so it proves to be a good challenge,” Giancarlo Fisichella
“I think we can also try to get into Q2, but this always depends on us getting the perfect lap and maybe one of the others making a mistake - it's very close racing this year,” Fisichella added.
The 5.412km Bahrain International Circuit is located in the Sakhir desert area south of Manama, the capital city of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Hermann Tilke-designed facility follows the contours of the rolling sand dunes, giving a gently undulating track that combines long straights with tight narrow corners.
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