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Baku podium gives Force India optimism for Singapore

Force India team principal Vijay Mallya says the podium the team scored in Baku this season gives it optimism for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez scored his second podium of the year at Baku, beating the Red Bulls and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari on pace. With Baku a street circuit sharing similar characteristics to Singapore - and with Force India's other podium this season coming in Monaco - Mallya says the signs are his team should be strong at the Marina Bay Circuit.

“We’ve usually performed well in Singapore," Mallya said. "We’ve scored points in every race there since 2010 and had some very strong performances over the years.

"We had our best showing of the year in Baku on a circuit that shares many characteristics with Singapore so there’s every reason to feel optimistic. I think the warm conditions will work in our favour as well. Solid points must be the objective in Singapore and all the remaining races.”

While Force India will target a big result in Singapore, Mallya also believes the significance of its double points finish in Italy - where Perez was eighth and Nico Hulkenberg tenth - should not be overlooked.

“Qualifying and racing inside the top ten represented a good effort when you consider we never really found the sweet spot with the set-up. The five points we scored could prove valuable come the end of the year.

"To finish the European season just three points away from fourth place is an excellent achievement. I’m optimistic some of the upcoming races will play to our strengths more than Monza and I look forward to the hard work required to earn fourth place in the championship.”

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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.