Force India team principal Bob Fernley says that team-owner Vijay Mallya deserves more credit for the outfit's outperformance and ascent to fourth in this year's Constructors standings.
The Indian business man, who bought Force India in 2007, has kept a low profile in the past year following his involvement in several financial scandals and controversies in his home country.
Indeed he was only seen once on Force India's pit wall in 2016, at the British GP, and missed the bulk of the team's remarkable season which brought it fourth in the Constructors standings behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.
Speaking to Autosport.com, Fernley underlined the 60-year-old's prominent role in the team's significant performance.
"Yes, he deserves a lot of credit," Fernley said.
"Vijay celebrates 10 years in Formula 1 next year. There are not many individual team owners that have been around for 10 years and he continues to support it.
"That's fundamentally where it [the reason for the team's rise] is. I don't think it's any magic, it's just about consistency, attention to detail and good people."
Force India fought hard with Williams for the coveted fourth place in the standings, only emerging in the last stretch of the championship.
The team's result will generate a much welcomed additional financial windfall but Fernley believes the positive impact on its troops enthusiasm is equally important.
"It's really the moral boost. What it does is it endorses what the team has been doing for the last three or four years.
"You can never underestimate the enthusiasm this will drive through the team and [help] bring it to the next stage.
"While it's nice to have the extra funding coming in, that is incidental to the enthusiasm it will put in and the commitment it will deliver for 2017."
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