Force India development to remain at full speed in 2018 - Green

Force India's technical director Andy Green has been talking about the big strides made by the team this season, and how that's driving development for 2018.

"We relished 2017," Green told motorsport.tv. "For us it was a huge challenge with the new regulations. For a team like ourselves, to do what we did with almost a clean sheet of paper was a fantastic achievement."

Force India finished the season in fourth place in the constructors championship for the second year running. They did it with a huge points advantage over Williams F1.

Now the question is whether the team will be able to up its game again next year to keep the upper hand over its midfield rivals.

"We now need to move forward in 2018," Green conceded. "We can see that it's possible - we're obviously not the quickest team.

"The three teams ahead of us are significantly quicker than us, so we know there's performance out there. It's for us to find it, and we are absolutely motivated to do that."

Force India benefited from an injection of cash this season. Previously Green had said he would put this to use in streamlining the production process so that new parts got onto the race car at the track much faster.

"I can look at the 2017 season and say that that did happen," he confirmed. "We had an injection of funds and it went into exactly that area.

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"We were bringing parts to the track every race, significant changes to the car every race. It was really exciting to see - it really motivates everybody back at the factory to see that the parts they're working on can get to the track so quickly.

"It made a real difference," he insisted. "Not just for 2017 - which it did at the time - but we did a huge amount of work for next year as well. Trying to understand directions to go in. It will help us to do that, which we've never been able to do before.

"We've always started the following season with roughly the same amount of knowledge as we finished the year before. Next year we've managed to bring so many new parts and development parts to the car to try and increase our understanding during the winter."

Much of the attention on Force India this year had focused on the growing friction between the team's drivers, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. Green said that the drivers' efforts remained incredibly important - and not just in the obvious way.

"The hidden side of it is the motivation it brings to the factory," he explained. "When you see a driver really giving it his all - that's what they do back at the factory. That's what they're doing.

"They want to see the same dedication from the driver that they're putting in back in the factory," he added. "So as far as motivation is concerned, it's right up there."

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