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Force India aiming to 'leapfrog' Renault

Force India is looking to get ahead of Renault © Getty Images

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• News:
• Renault looking to get ahead of Mercedes
  

• Drivers:
• Robert Kubica
• |
• Tonio Liuzzi
• |
• Adrian Sutil

• Teams:
• Racing Point
• |
• Renault

Force India boss Vijay Mallya is confident of "leapfrogging" Renault in the early season battle at the front of the midfield.

Renault is 12 points ahead of Force India after the first three races, mainly due to Robert Kubica's performances in Australia and Malaysia, but Mallya is confident his team can catch up with and pass its closest competitors.

"The grid is very tight as we saw in Malaysia and Australia and there's no clear delineation between the front and the midfield," he said. "The most important at this stage is that we are still up there fighting. Renault look very strong right now but there's still a lot more races to go this year and we have a clear direction about where we are going that will keep us with them, or hopefully leapfrog them. The drivers are confident and the team is working well so I think fifth is still realistic."

Adrian Sutil is confident the Force India car will suit the next circuit on the calendar in Shanghai and is hoping to build on his strong fifth-place finish in Malaysia.

"The next race in China will be a bit different but there are some similarities to Malaysia as well," he said. "The circuit layout is different, of course, but you need a good top speed, which we have, and you need a little bit of downforce for the mid sector, for the slow corners so I think it should suit our car really well. I don't think we should be concerned about our performance at the moment, we are strong and we can fight in the top 10, and that's very encouraging at this point of the year.

Sutil's team-mate Tonio Liuzzi revealed he had been working hard to improve the car in time for China.

"We are pushing to try to bring some more steps forward for the car," he said. "I have been in the simulator and we are pushing to bring updates to China as we want to be ready to score points again and not let our momentum slip."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.