• Force India news

Liuzzi unflustered by rival's progress

Tonio Liuzzi expects Force India to match its rivals pace © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Drivers:
• Tonio Liuzzi
• |
• Vijay Mallya
• |
• Adrian Sutil

• Teams:
• Ferrari
• |
• McLaren
• |
• Mercedes
• |
• Racing Point
• |
• Red Bull
• |
• Renault

Tonio Liuzzi is confident Force India can keep up with the rate of development among the top teams in Formula One.

Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes brought major updates to their cars at the European Grand Prix, based around Red Bull's blown diffuser. Force India is currently chasing those teams in the constructors' championship but ESPNF1 understands it will not be introducing a similar system to its car in the coming races. Nevertheless, Liuzzi is confident his team will remain competitive by following its current development trend.

"Some teams, including Renault, brought big updates to Valencia, but I don't think this is cause for concern as we held our own and we could have been in the points with both cars if we hadn't had the qualifying session we did," he said. "Also I am confident in what we have coming ourselves. We have some solid updates for the British Grand Prix that will give us extra downforce in high-speed corners, which is crucial at that track. I really want to put on a good show in front of the factory to give them a reward for the work they've done and the trust, belief and support they have shown me."

Adrian Sutil is also confident that the team will remain competitive and said the it would continue to push to improve the car at every race, starting with the British round this weekend.

"We have some new developments, I would say a very similar step to Valencia, around the front wing and floor," he said. "As we saw last year, every update we put on - whether large or small - does move us forward so I think it will put us in a similar position to Valencia, top ten, higher if we can. We've also got the SRW [switchable rear wing / F-duct] working really well now too, so the combination of the new parts and the extra top speed makes me feel quite confident going into this race."

Team boss Vijay Mallya said Force India would be trying extra hard this weekend at its home grand prix.

"It's a very big weekend, and obviously Silverstone is where we really want to perform well," he said. "It's the home race for us now and there's a lot of involvement from the guys in the factory, and the whole team enjoys the race weekend. We've got a little update coming, over and above what we had in Valencia, and hopefully we can bring both cars home well into the points. Clearly this car is better than anything we've had at Silverstone in many years.

"I've said before that the objective of 2010 was to regularly score points, and I think we're meeting that objective. Spa and Monza are tracks that will suit the car better, and if we can get a podium, that would be the icing on the cake. But if not, at least we're demonstrating that we're scoring points. We're up to 43 now, and this team hasn't done as well in a long while."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.