Force India, fifth team?

If four teams seem to stand out from the others this season, Force India has also moved closer to the best. What if Vijay Mallya's team managed to put one of its cars regularly in the top 10? This is the goal of the Indian billionaire.

Published on 18/03/2010 à 15:39

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Behind the four best teams at the start of the season – Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes -, Force India invites itself to the party. Often the least efficient of the ten teams in the first half of the 2009 season, Vijay Mallya's team was able to evolve during the second half of the year, before reaching a new milestone in 2010. So much so that in Bahrain, Force India placed a car in ninth place in the Grand Prix, behind the cars of the top four teams. A performance that reassures Vijay Mallya. If Adrian Sutil, who started tenth, crashed into Robert Kubica's car (Renault) in the first corner, Vitantonio Liuzzi was able to take over.

« I am very satisfied, despite what happened to Adrian (Sutil) at the start, confides Vijay Mallya. For our team, with our past, our history, scoring points in the first race is great. Two things particularly surprised me. First, our racing pace. This is a huge performance for a team like ours. Then I think Tonio drove magnificently. He knew how to preserve his tires, be fast and bring his car into the points. He deserves all my congratulations. »

Behind the four leading teams, Force India therefore seems, in terms of performance, to be fighting with Williams and Renault to get into the points in the Grands Prix. Vijay Mallya was therefore happy to see one of his cars enter the final phase of the Bahrain GP qualifying session on Saturday (Sutil), before scoring points on Sunday (Liuzzi).

« You have to be among the top ten in order to score points. With the big four teams, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, to say I want us to be ahead of them would be extremely ambitious. But being able to knock on their door, while being in front of others, is something very appreciable. »

From then on, the path taken by the Silverstone team is very satisfactory for Vijay Mallya. “ In 2009 I wanted us to score points every now and then and scored 13. This year I said I wanted us to score points regularly and we did it from the first race. I think we will have the opportunity to do this regularly. I wouldn't be surprised if we could aim for the podium once or twice. Next year, we should aim for the podium with regularity. »

Force India therefore does not lack ambition. However, Bahrain's encouraging result will have to be confirmed at the next Grands Prix.