Big hopes for Force India

Building on its technical partnership with Mercedes, Vijay Mallya's team has therefore logically revised its ambitions upwards and hopes to score the first points of its young career this season. Why not from the first Grand Prix?

“We are keen to score some points this season, that is our main objective. We know that it is easier to lose points at the start of the season than to gain them, so we will try to take every opportunity that comes our way,” said Simon Roberts, former employee of McLaren-Mercedes and now Chief Operations Director of the Indian team.

“At the start of the season, I would like to think that we are in the middle of the pack. Our project is based on three years and we wish to achieve in 2010 what the Team Toro Rosso achieved last year, extricating itself from the soft underbelly of the grid and taking advantage of opponents' mistakes to secure, why not, a podium. As for 2011, we hope to progress and fight for the podium. Of course, all this is very ambitious, but not unachievable…”

For his part, Giancarlo Fisichella, who with Rubens Barrichello is a veteran in this championship which he joined in 1996, begins this new year with much more modest ambitions, even if the VJM02s have shown themselves to be rather efficient overall. , during winter testing.

“I was very optimistic after the first tests, but I am not so enthusiastic today because, unfortunately, the car was developed very late and we did not have enough time to test it enough. Mechanically it seems ok however, the engine and gearbox work very well, but we need a lot more downforce! »

For the first Grand Prix in Melbourne, the Italian driver is not expecting a miracle: “The first race will be difficult, because we haven't had many testing days this winter. We will have to work a lot on Friday to get a good set-up and try to be competitive for the race. For the moment my objectives are to get a good start, avoid problems if possible and reach the finish! Later in the season we should be able to pick up a few points on a regular basis, but I think in Melbourne we mainly need to focus on reliability. »

After 214 Grand Prix starts and 14 years spent in F1, the Italian still does not seem decided to give up his career at the highest level, even if the latter admits that this is a very important year for his future. Indeed, if the expected results are not there, he could well hang up at the end of the season.