Force India expects upgrades to deliver in China

Force India tested upgrades at the Bahrain Grand Prix which it expects to give the team a more obvious step forward at the next race in China.

A disappointing weekend in Bahrain saw both Force India drivers sustain front wing damage during the opening two laps, dropping them towards the back of the field. While the race ended without either driver scoring, deputy team principal Bob Fernley insists there were positive signs during the weekend, telling F1i a new set of upgrades produced encouraging results.

“The car is basically there, Nico [Hulkenberg] did a great job in qualifying so we know it’s there,” Fernley said. “We put some stuff on the car this weekend which was not necessarily optimal for Bahrain but will allow us to try it and get it all working so that when we go to China it should help us there.

“It’s delivered. As I say, it doesn’t necessarily give us what we would want to get as an advantage in Bahrain but it was an ideal time to test it. Mainly because the weather can be so risky in China, the last thing you want to be doing is testing new stuff on a wet Friday. So we go there now knowing that it all works.”

And Fernley believes Force India’s true potential has yet to be seen in the opening two races but points to a difficult spell during 2015 as an example of how the team can bounce back.

“We’ve had one weekend in Melbourne where we were fortunate to come out of it because we were looking really strong for a very good double points finish there, fifth or sixth or something like that with both cars. And then the red flag completely hit us so we lost that opportunity.

“Nico managed to pull back in to the points which we didn’t expect him to do, but that was again attrition, other people making mistakes. So we got away with Melbourne if you like to a degree when we should of done.

“In Bahrain there was just no coming back. These things happen, you’ve just got to take it over a 20-race program. We had the same thing last year if you remember in the middle of the season, we had Hungary [where both cars retired] and a couple of others, and then you pick it back up again. It ebbs and flows. So you’ve just got to dust yourself down.”