Force India targets catching Williams

The Silverstone-based team has enjoyed a strong uplift in form since a new aerodynamic package was delivered at the British Grand Prix.

And although the points gap to Red Bull and Williams ahead of it in the constructors' championship remains too big to close down, in performance terms the outfit senses the opportunity for progress.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley said: "We have been showing since Silverstone that the car is a top ten car really.

"I think, apart from the DNFs at Hungary, we have managed to deliver that all the way through, so I am comfortable the pace is there.

"But it is not quite where we would want it to be – and our key objective now is to get into our peer group, which is Williams.

"They are in the same engine group as we are and we have to work with them. Lotus are damn quick too. I think the three Mercedes customers are doing a good job."

Updates must prove themselves

Although Force India will continue to bring developments to each race, Fernley has said that any major overhaul will now only come if it is guaranteed to deliver a good step forward in pace.

But even without that, he thinks that there is plenty of potential to extract more from the current package.

"We are now in to an optimisation programme for the B-spec," he said. "Everything is on that is going to go on, and I would like to have a bit of stability now.

"So let's get the best out of it we can, before we start to bolt anything else on."

When asked if that meant no more updates, amid talk that more could come for Mexico, Fernley said: "We would desperately like to do that and we have things in the pipeline, but [technical director] Andrew Green won't release it until he is happy it is a meaningful step.

"If we can get it, it would be wonderful. But let's optimise what we have because there is still more in that car yet to get out."