The mixed result of Force India at the Belgian GP, with a 5th place for Sergio Pérez and a retirement of Nico Hulkenberg, pushed the Indian team back to 6th place in the Manufacturers' Championship, à a lotus point F1 Team. If the VJM08s have already evolved well since the start of the year, the engineers still need to improve their performance to stay in the game in the second part of the season.
« I would like to see the next major development coming for the Singapore GP (September 18 to 20) », indicated Vijay Mallya, the director of Force India, on the official F1 website. “The circuits that we will encounter in the coming months are quite varied. Monza is similar to Spa, it is a high speed track, while Singapore is very different (street circuit). I have always told my engineers that we cannot have a car perfect on certain circuits and behind in others. We need a competitive car on all tracks and I think we have achieved that…”
Vijay Mallya believes that massive investments are not mandatory to achieve good results. “If we compare performance with the sums spent, and looking at what others spend, we might believe that this is true. But we like to operate on a small ship, with a good atmosphere, good pilots and good commitment from our staff”, added the Indian businessman. “If people say that Force India is struggling with its size, I take it as a compliment. We are less than 400 and I am sure that I do not have to double the work force to gain places on the grid…”
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