Force India 'caught up a lot' with upgrade

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Nico Hulkenberg believes Force India has "caught up a lot" with its main rivals as a result of its major upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Force India has had a disappointing start to the season, scoring just eight points in the opening four races having failed to make the most of its opportunities on a number of occasions. The team has delivered a number of updated parts in Barcelona and Hulkenberg says it was immediately apparent the car is performing better as a result.

“A much better feeling," Hulkenberg said. "The upgrade was a good success. It’s definitely a good step forward.

“We’re still very competitive. If you look at the gap to the front it’s still pretty big. Toro Rosso and McLaren are quick. We’ve made a pretty good step, but everybody else has brought a lot of updates as well, like Renault also. I saw a lot of parts outside their garage.

“We have to fight for it and keep developing because the development rate and speed in Formula 1 is quite amazing, so we have to keep bringing performance otherwise you will just fall back again.

“We’ve caught up a lot, we’re sniffing at the front of the midfield now, but to maintain that we have to keep digging.”

And team-mate Sergio Perez agrees the new parts have addressed Force India's major weaknesses.

“We’ve definitely made good progress," Perez said. "The car definitely feels better, and in the main areas where we needed downforce it came.

“Obviously we always want more, but I feel we have made a reasonable step and to be inside the top 10 at this track means a lot to us. It’s our weakest track."

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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.