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Force India can beat Williams - Hulkenberg

ESPN Staff
August 22, 2012 « Alonso happy to ignore cirtics | Lotus expects Raikkonen to stay in 2013 »
Nico Hulkenberg is confident Force India can finish ahead of Williams in the constructors' championship © Sutton Images
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Nico Hulkenberg is confident his Force India team can catch and pass Williams in the constructors' championship this year.

Force India is currently eighth in the title chase, seven points behind Williams and 34 points behind Sauber. And despite failing to match the one-off podium-scoring performances of its rivals, Hulkenberg is confident his team can have a stronger second half of the season and close in on the two teams in front.

"We already showed last year that our development speed is very competitive and I do not see a reason why we shouldn't be able to repeat that again," he told the official Formula One website. "We're only seven points shy of Williams and I think we can catch them. I don't know whether it's possible to catch Sauber. It will be difficult, but the whole team will try their very best, that´s for sure."

However, Hulkenberg admitted Force India was still lacking raw pace ahead of the summer break.

"Pace-wise we are still behind Sauber, Williams and all the frontrunners," he added. "This means, that we have the chance to beat Williams, Sauber or Mercedes when our weekend goes completely smoothly and they struggle. In qualifying this happens more often, but in the race they have 50, 60, 70 laps to get their faster cars in front of ours. So our race pace actually shows us where we really are."

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