New Force India will look 'quite different' from Spanish GP

The Silverstone-based outfit has been working hard on the overhaul to its VJM09, which it hopes will be enough to deliver a decent lift of pace.

Speaking in a preview to the Spanish GP on Monday, team boss Vijay Mallya said that the updates will be ready for both Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg this weekend.

"It's on schedule to be fitted to both cars ahead of Friday practice," he said. "It's pretty comprehensive and the car will look quite different."

Change of fortune

Both Hulkenberg and Perez have been hit by misfortune this year after being caught up in first corner incidents, with both of them involved in the Russian GP pile-up.

Perez is hopeful that things can now reset for Spain as the team bids to regularly score decent points.

"It was important to get back into the points in Russia," he said. "The car performed very well all weekend and I can feel the progress we've made since the start of the year.

"It was not a smooth race, but we didn't give up and scoring two points was a good recovery. It's been a difficult start to the year, but it feels like the momentum is changing now and the performance in Sochi was a big boost for all of us.

"Barcelona will be the first chance to run our updated car. It's going to be a huge task to understand everything on Friday, but it's always exciting to try new parts on the car."

Mallya added: "I hope we've used up all of our bad luck already! We've yet to see how we perform in a clean, trouble-free race without safety cars, red flags or accidents.

"Despite not realising our potential in Sochi, we took encouragement from our qualifying and race pace: the car is improving and we've got a good base on which to build. There are 17 races to go and I'm confident the best is yet to come. It's a marathon, not a sprint."