• Turkish Grand Prix

Force India 'well placed' - Mallya

Force India have been challenging for points in all three races so far this season © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Paul di Resta
• |
• Vijay Mallya
• |
• Adrian Sutil

• Teams:
• Racing Point

Force India team principal Vijay Mallya has said that he feels the team are "well placed" for the European season.

Despite having looked slightly off the pace during pre-season testing, Force India have been consistent, securing a double points finish in the opening race of the season in Melbourne. Paul di Resta then followed up with points in Malaysia, before qualifying eighth in China. Mallya said it had given the team a solid platform to improve the car from, but that any upgrades would not be ready for the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend.

"I think that overall we can be pleased with our start to the season," Mallya said. "To have points on the board and a car that is capable of qualifying in the top ten means we are well placed to build on our competitiveness as we begin the European season."

"I'm very proud of both our drivers, too. Paul has driven superbly and has adapted very quickly to Formula One. Combined with Adrian's speed and experience, I see no reason why we cannot challenge for points at every race this year. Plus, we have some promising aerodynamic upgrades in the pipeline, which should make a significant difference to the performance of the car in the coming races."

Adrian Sutil admitted that the team had exceeded expectations with its competitiveness so far this season, but that it still had to look to improve the car.

"It feels like ages since the last race, but it was good to have a short break to think about our start to the season, to analyse all the data and to relax a bit. In many ways the first three races were better than expected: we scored points and were always quite close to the top ten. As a team I think we did a good job and we've shown we have pretty solid reliability.

The task now is developing the car and the updates we have coming look interesting so I'm excited to see how it goes. For this weekend, I'm looking forward to racing in Istanbul and I enjoy going there. I think we will be quite competitive and once again the goal is to score points."

Team-mate Paul di Resta agreed that Force India need to develop the VJM-04, saying that the team had been getting the best out of the car in its current specification.

"I think the season so far has gone pretty well - very positive in terms of our performance from a team point of view. We know that we have work to do in terms of outright speed, but we've definitely maximised our strengths. We understand the car better now and that's where we have made big gains from winter testing."

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