Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Mallya not expecting instant success with B-spec

Force India team principal Vijay Mallya says he is not expecting instant success from the updated VJM08 at the British Grand Prix.

Having launched an underdeveloped car pre-season, Force India tested its B-spec following the Austrian Grand Prix and will introduce the new car at Silverstone. While Mallya is excited by the potential of the upgrade, he isn't putting too much pressure on the team to deliver an instant step forward such is the major nature of the change.

“We come to Silverstone off the back of two strong results in Canada and Austria, two races that have been a big boost for everyone in the team," Mallya said. "As we approach the mid-season point, being fifth in the championship is an tremendous achievement, especially when you take into consideration our start to the season. It’s a reward for the hard work by everyone in the team, both at the factory and trackside.

“Our recent results are an excellent platform to build on for the second part of the season, with our eagerly-awaited upgrade package making its debut in Silverstone. Everyone is full of anticipation, but we know it will be a very steep learning curve to fully understand and get on top of the changes in just a few free practice sessions. However, I remain optimistic we will see progress sooner rather than later."

And Mallya is confident Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez will be able to get the maximum out of the car as quickly as possible.

“Both Nico and Checo have been performing admirably so far this year and they have seized every opportunity to score points. I have always had the utmost confidence in our driver pairing and I think this season has shown, once again, that we have one of the most competitive line-ups in Formula One."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.