• Singapore Grand Prix

Beating Sauber 'unlikey' - di Resta

Paul di Resta thinks it will be tough to achieve Vijay Mallya's target of sixth in the championship © Sutton Images

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Paul di Resta believes Force India will need a lot of luck and progress to beat Sauber in this year's constructors' championship.

Force India is currently seventh in the constructors', 37 points behind the on-form Sauber with seven races remaining. Earlier this week team principal Vijay Mallya said he felt it is still possible to close the gap, but di Resta is not so sure.

"We're obviously up against a massive task when you look at what Sauber achieved in Monza, and Vijay is saying he still wants sixth," he said. "It's an unlikely position for us to achieve now, but it's not out of reach. It would take a lot of luck and a lot of progress on our behalf to do that."

But despite Force India switching its focus to 2013, di Resta is confident his team is still in a position to score strong points.

"I believe most of the focus has changed onto next year's car. I think that some teams have probably changed quicker than others while the teams still battling for the championship are still developing, which is like every year. There becomes a point where you have to switch and this is normally the point. It's an unfortunate thing and you would like more, but with the tools we have I think we will improve. I think the biggest thing is not to fatigue as a team and make sure you stay sharp. I think at this time last year we gained quite a lot of points compared to the cars around us and hopefully the small network of this team will thrive again."

And after a strong weekend at Monza di Resta believes Force India can build on its recent performance this weekend at Singapore.

"I certainly hope so. I think we're coming here based on how our car performed in Valencia and I think as a weekend that was probably the strongest we'd been this year. Qualifying was obviously quite strong in Valencia and the race pace was good so this track is nothing like anything but that, and given the result we got last year you can safely say that getting into Q3 and points is the minimum target that is achievable for us."

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