Force India switches focus after achieving 2017 objective

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Force India has made no secret that clinching fourth place in the constructors championship was their main objective in 2017.

With the points won by Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in Mexico, that mission has been accomplished. It means the team can now start to focus on next year's development.

"It's a great achievement for the team," said chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer. "Now [what we've] got to do is utilise the fact that we've done it to our advantage.

“We’re going to go back and plan for the next two races a bit differently," he explained. "We've got to think differently in the next two races and do experiments. Do things differently that will help for next year.

"There are some components that we want to try and are a bit more risky so we can go ahead and try them. If we lose some time on a Friday, big deal.

“We will hopefully gain for next year at the expense of this year because the expense of this year is meaningless. But the gain for next year will be meaningful."

Perez calls for end to team orders at Force India

In fact it could be counter productive for the team to do too well in the remaining two races.

Auto Motor und Sport's F1 correspondent Tobi Grubner pointed out on Twitter that under the current regulations, every extra point they get will add $5161 to their entry fee for 2018

Perez and Ocon are hoping that the resolution of the constructors standing will mean the team will lift the team orders that have been in place since the summer.

A number of clashes on and off the track between the pair - most notably in Baku and Belgium - cost the team valuable results at the time.

But now they should be free to fight each other properly at Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Ocon is hoping to steal seventh place in the drivers championship from his team mate, but is currently nine points behind.

Szafnauer said the matter still had to be decided internally. "It's better for the fans if they are allowed to race. But at the same time, car parts aren't cheap!

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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.