After gathering 20 points from the last three races, Force India is targeting elusive double points finish in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Only once has Force India managed a double points finish, and that was in the inaugural race of the 2011 season in Australia.
Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Team Principal, was happy with the way team made a hat—trick of points - Nurburgring, Budapest and Spa—Francorchamps - and now want both Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta to finish among the top—10.
“Looking back on the last three races, I am very pleased with the performances we have shown. The target now is to get both drivers in the points, and I’m hopeful Monza will give us a chance to do that,” Mallya said.
“The VJM04 worked well at Spa and the drivers were happy with the balance in low downforce trim. That’s a good sign for Monza where we take another step down on the downforce levels,” he added.
Sutil is hoping that he would be able to repeat his good show here in 2009.
“I enjoy it and I have good some memories there. It’s where I had my best result two years ago when I qualified on the front row and finished fourth. It’s a classic circuit, one of the old tracks, and you feel the history when you arrive there. And the Italian fans always give Monza a great atmosphere.”
Sutil was satisfied with the performance of the car, and is expecting another strong show.
“I think our car is more consistent on all tracks rather than just being strong on the quick circuits. Also, because everyone is now using DRS and KERS, the advantage of our straight—line speed is not so significant.
“It’s still a fast car, but we were seventh in Hungary on a high downforce circuit and got the same result in Spa on a low downforce circuit. So it’s a very consistent car now and I expect a good race at Monza.”
Resta is looking forward to his first Italian Grand Prix.
“In all my years of racing it’s just one of those tracks where I’ve never raced. In fact, free practice last year was my first experience of the track. It’s so fast but you also need to be aggressive and use the kerbs to get the laptime.
“And because it’s so low downforce, you have to adapt and drive in a different way. You need to be very precise on the brakes too, because it’s easy to lock a wheel and if you miss your braking by just a metre it can cost you a lot.”
The F1 teams make special preparations for Monza to deal with the high—speed nature of the Italian track, and that means preparing a bespoke low downforce aero package.
