Force India Targets 5th in 2013

It can change it because if they settle for either an inexperienced driver, or a driver whose skill set isn't all that great, it makes getting the necessary points for P5 in the WCC much more difficult.

That could affect the result, but doesn't change the target. No matter who they sign their ambition can remain the same. It's far more important to get the car design right than name a driver.

Just a few weeks to testing, and you are in here suggesting whilst they haven't sorted out engines, or drivers, yet targetting fifth is all normal to you? What kind of a car do they building then?

Target does not equal prediction.

I don't think a midfield team with aspirations setting 5th as a target is unreasonable. As I said setting a target doesn't mean that is what you expect to get, people want to aim higher than where they reasonably expect to fall.

If we say the bigger teams are RBR, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, Mercedes, then targeting 5th means you want to be best of the midfield and hope to pick off whomever of the bigger teams will struggle (and statistically speaking the chances are one of the big 5 will have an "off" season). I don't think that's an unrealistic thing to say.

Certainly. However such a target shouldn't be aimed for if the team fields an average car as well as two average drivers.

I think the situation has changed since this thread started (though we still don't know anything officially).

At the outset, it was assumed FI would run Merc and Sutil and DiResta. And perhaps continue the momentum of the last half season.

Now I agree, it is all up in the air and very late in the day. There is no announcement of a Ferrari deal and, as far as I know, the technical consultancy deal with McLaren has not been renewed.

That could affect the result, but doesn't change the target. No matter who they sign their ambition can remain the same. It's far more important to get the car design right than name a driver.

Certainly. However such a target shouldn't be aimed for if the team fields an average car as well as two average drivers.

This isn't an attempt at going OT but couldn't the Williams 2012 experience apply?

Surely they started season targeting a better result?
Had the car - didn't have the driver.
Out the back door again.

This isn't an attempt at going OT but couldn't the Williams 2012 experience apply?

Had the car - didn't have the driver.

Today on SporTV broadcast Razia said that he was negotiating with Force India to drive for the team this year, but he did not tell if it was for a friday or races. Does anyone know something about it?

According to Thibault Larue from Sport Auto, head of Di resta is on the block for the rest of season in Force India.

He must raise his game.

He must raise his game.

In fairness, he did in Malaysia. He was comfortably ahead of Sutil and wheel nut issues spoiled his race. I'm confident he'll finish ahead of Sutil in the standings when the season ends

In fairness, he did in Malaysia. He was comfortably ahead of Sutil and wheel nut issues spoiled his race. I'm confident he'll finish ahead of Sutil in the standings when the season ends

But he was way slower than Sutil in qualifying (he was already 6 tenths down on his dry lap in Q2 so he wouldn't have made Q3 even if he had finished it) and was only near him in the race thanks to Sutil's long pit stop.

di Resta Sutil
1 05:52.0 05:50.0
2 02:01.2 02:00.5
3 02:01.4 02:00.4
4 02:01.0 02:01.2
5 01:59.7 01:59.9
6 02:03.7 02:03.9
7 02:30.0 02:30.0
8 01:48.8 01:50.3
9 01:48.4 01:50.0
10 01:45.9 01:46.1
11 01:44.9 01:46.1
12 01:44.2 01:44.1
13 01:43.8 01:44.2
14 01:43.7 01:43.8
15 01:43.9 01:44.3
16 01:43.5 01:44.0
17 01:43.3 01:43.7
18 01:44.2 01:43.8
19 01:43.1 01:44.1

39:26.4 39:30.3

Based on?

Qualifying is only half the battle. I've borrowed these lap times from another forum, but it shows after the first set of pit stops Di Resta was much faster than Sutil until the second round of problems.

According to Thibault Larue from Sport Auto, head of Di resta is on the block for the rest of season in Force India.

He must raise his game.

Edited by William Hunt, 27 March 2013 - 22:56.

Qualifying is only half the battle, yes, but Di Resta would have been nowhere near Sutil if Sutil hadn't had the problem at his first stop, so comparing their race pace after that is a bit irrelevant.

I don't know about what you're talking about. As I've already written in another thread, there were 4 seconds between them on lap 5, then they both pitted on lap 6 and there were still 4 seconds between them on lap 7. Like you completely don't put into consideration that di Resta was waiting behind Sutil in the pitlane until they change Adrian's tyres so he gained nothing with that problem and lost big amount of time compared to the rest of the field.

Sutil didn't lose time compared to Di Resta, but he did lose a bit of positional advantage. Before they pitted, Sutil was running 9th and Di Resta 13th, with both Lotus and Ricciardo in between them, who would probably have been more of a challenge than Bianchi and Bottas.

5th looks very well on sight now , they have 2 fast and experienced drivers to finish in the points every race , the other teams they are fighting have less experienced drivers (sauber), or crazy ones (maldonado ) . mclaren would be very hard to beat obviously but again FI pace in aus and malaysia was no short of lotus and mclaren and maybe even ferrari

I don't know about what you're talking about. As I've already written in another thread, there were 4 seconds between them on lap 5, then they both pitted on lap 6 and there were still 4 seconds between them on lap 7. Like you completely don't put into consideration that di Resta was waiting behind Sutil in the pitlane until they change Adrian's tyres so he gained nothing with that problem and lost big amount of time compared to the rest of the field.

Edited by TFLB, 28 March 2013 - 13:26.

It's right, but I would rather expect both Lotus to overtake Sutil, than di Resta to overtake them both, so it still didn't change much in my opinion.

5th looks very well on sight now , they have 2 fast and experienced drivers to finish in the points every race , the other teams they are fighting have less experienced drivers (sauber), or crazy ones (maldonado ) . mclaren would be very hard to beat obviously but again FI pace in aus and malaysia was no short of lotus and mclaren and maybe even ferrari

Edited by DutchQuicksilver, 28 March 2013 - 15:52.

Very strong performance today from both Force India cars. They are as easy on the tyres as anyone so I wouldn't be shocked to see one of them snag 3rd or 4th tomorrow.

I'm a bit surprised how di Resta is taking on Sutil at the moment. Or is Sutil still getting into his rhytm after a year away from the sport?

I'm a bit surprised how di Resta is taking on Sutil at the moment. Or is Sutil still getting into his rhytm after a year away from the sport?

Nothing surprising really as Di Resta has his beloved tracks (where braking from high speeds is an important factor and highspeed corners are just few) and he is permanently better in the first half of the season and then slowly fading (2011/2012)...

Edited by SonJR, 21 April 2013 - 17:38.

At the end of lap 2 Sutil was 81s behind Vettel, and at the chequered flag, he was 76s behind him. Also set 2nd fastest lap

Indeed, missed chance for Force India to score a lot of points. They have to take advantage of this early pace as much as possible, because McLaren will probably outdevelop them in the next races.

They already missed out in Malaysia with both cars and Sutil's bad luck in China and Bahrain isn't helping either.

"At the end of lap 2 Sutil was 81s behind Vettel, and at the chequered flag, he was 76s behind him. Also set 2nd fastest lap"

Shame about the incident with Massa but he could have taken the podium.