Force India aims to "spring a surprise" at Monaco

Although it is still awaiting a major aerodynamic upgrade that it hopes to test for the first time after the Austrian GP, the team believes that it can still deliver a good result before then.

Force India has taken top five finishes in the last two years.

Team boss Vijay Mallya said: "Although we struggled for outright pace in Barcelona, the unpredictable nature of Monaco could help us spring a surprise.

"It's a track where we've been successful in the past and I believe we can do something special again this year.

"The softer tyre compounds suit the VJM08 and we have two drivers who adore racing in Monaco. We must also be ready to make opportunistic strategy calls from the pit wall."

One area that Force India has been lacking so far this year is its qualifying form.

It is something that Mallya thinks needs addressing, especially with grid positions critical in Monaco.

"Before the Spanish Grand Prix I said the priority was to keep in touch with the midfield teams until we bring more performance to the car," he said.

"It's encouraging to see that we are just eight points away from fifth place in the standings and hopefully we can add more points to our tally this weekend.

"One area we need to improve is our qualifying speed so that we can take advantage of our race pace, which has been much more competitive."