Force India targets Red Bull after strong start

Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer says his team is targeting Red Bull Racing after closing the gap in the constructors’ championship at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Red Bull made a clear step forward in Barcelona after a difficult start to the year, but only managed to finish with one car for the fourth time in the opening five races. With Force India securing points with both cars in every race so far, its fourth and fifth finish in Spain saw it reduce the deficit to Red Bull by seven points and Szafnauer admits it gives his team the opportunity to chase third place in the constructors’ championship.

“We’re 19 points behind them now with a quarter of the season gone,” Szafnauer said. “There’s three quarters of the season to go – 19 points isn’t insurmountable so it’s still an objective that is achievable, but in order for us to achieve that we need more pace. They’re faster than us, they’re going to beat us, it’s that simple.

“So if we can improve the pace of the car and develop at a quicker rate than Red Bull, the fact that we’re only 19 points behind could allow us to achieve. But I don’t know if that will happen. If everything stays the same, relative performance, they will beat us."

Force India has outscored Red Bull by 43 points to 35 over the past three races, and asked if he would have taken the small gap at the start of the season, Szafnauer replied: “Are you kidding me? Even after Saturday morning!

“We haven’t maximized or optimized what we can do but we’ve come close and that’s satisfying. But that doesn’t happen by luck, it’s because if the car isn’t where you need it to be the guys here extract what they can from it. You need good development people back at the factory and you need good racers here. If you’ve got that depth then it happens and you can do it, and you need two good drivers.”

While Force India celebrated its strong performance in Barcelona, the team was summoned to the stewards after falling foul of a more rigorous enforcement of regulations relating to car numbers and driver identifiers. After meeting with the FIA, Force India was hit with a fine of €25,000 ($28,000), suspended for 12 months, having not been challenged about the numbers in scrutineering.