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With two races to go, Force India Formula 1 team team principal Vijay Mallya remains optimistic that the Silverstone-based squad can catch their more-fancied rivals.
After Austin, Force India is just 24 points down to McLaren and both are fighting over 5th place in the constructors' championship.
“We have double points at the last race [in Abu Dhabi] and that can turn everything around again, so we will continue fighting until the very end!” said Vijay Mallya on Formula1.com.
After a lot of initial scepticism about double points, many are now viewing it as a welcome chance to improve their positions...
“In Russia, McLaren really bagged big points and then the Austin race was very unfortunate for us, with Checo being a bit too over-optimistic and Nico retiring. Our cars were competitive in the race so my hope was that we would head to Brazil having closed the point's gap to McLaren rather than it widening by four more points. But as I just said, there is still the potential to turn things around,” he continued.
“I am sure that McLaren will try their best - and so will we. Our cars are competitive and the drivers are equally good - and it all has to come together. It has come together for us in previous races and it came together for McLaren in Sochi, so there is no reason why it shouldn't swing our way again in the next race - and then we head to Abu Dhabi,” the Indian billionaire declared.
Fifth place in the constructors' championship is worth several millions of dollars. What would you give to end up in P5?
“ It is not a question of sacrificing. Monetarily P5 or P6 doesn't make all that difference,” he replied.
“If I go crazy and spend extraordinary sums of money to get P5 then the net benefit would actually be less - then I would be stupid. So it is more of a feelgood factor: to finish in P5 to see that we are moving the team forward - that in 2014 the team has scored more points than in its entire history - given the fact that seven years ago we started with zero points and now we are fighting McLaren!”
After Austin, Force India is just 24 points down to McLaren and both are fighting over 5th place in the constructors' championship.
“We have double points at the last race [in Abu Dhabi] and that can turn everything around again, so we will continue fighting until the very end!” said Vijay Mallya on Formula1.com.
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| Vijay Mallya, Austin, 2014 (Photo: Rene Fagnan) |
After a lot of initial scepticism about double points, many are now viewing it as a welcome chance to improve their positions...
“In Russia, McLaren really bagged big points and then the Austin race was very unfortunate for us, with Checo being a bit too over-optimistic and Nico retiring. Our cars were competitive in the race so my hope was that we would head to Brazil having closed the point's gap to McLaren rather than it widening by four more points. But as I just said, there is still the potential to turn things around,” he continued.
“I am sure that McLaren will try their best - and so will we. Our cars are competitive and the drivers are equally good - and it all has to come together. It has come together for us in previous races and it came together for McLaren in Sochi, so there is no reason why it shouldn't swing our way again in the next race - and then we head to Abu Dhabi,” the Indian billionaire declared.
Fifth place in the constructors' championship is worth several millions of dollars. What would you give to end up in P5?
“ It is not a question of sacrificing. Monetarily P5 or P6 doesn't make all that difference,” he replied.
“If I go crazy and spend extraordinary sums of money to get P5 then the net benefit would actually be less - then I would be stupid. So it is more of a feelgood factor: to finish in P5 to see that we are moving the team forward - that in 2014 the team has scored more points than in its entire history - given the fact that seven years ago we started with zero points and now we are fighting McLaren!”