New Delhi: With just over a second covering
the entire grid, one or two successful updates can break the
jinx for Force India, reckons its technical director James
Key.
As Force India, still seeking its maiden Formula One
points, head for Valencia for the European Grand Prix later
this month, Key said the updates might do the trick for the
outfit.
"We have tenths and hundreths between cars at present
with just over one second covering the entire grid. This is of
course incredibly close, so any reasonable updates can make a
significant difference to position," Key said.
Key conceded qualifying high was a must if the team has
to finish in the point bracket.
"There is a lot of emphasis on optimising qualifying. We
had a good start position in Germany and raced at the front
without any issues, maintaining a points scoring position.
With current situation, track position is vital.," he said.
More than once, Force India came close to scoring the
all-important point before contriving to fall short and Key
felt the team had its fair share of misfortune.
"I think luck has not always been on our side. We have
had our cars in points scoring positions this year on a number
of occasions but not brought result home. We had a good window
of opportunity in middle of season after a big step forward at
Silverstone, but it did not work out due to Adrian's (Sutil)
unfortunate accident in qualifying," he said.
Looking ahead, Key said it all boiled down to doing the
right things over three days.
"I am not sure, particularly after the Hungarian GP, that
any teams could be said to be struggling at present as the
grid is so tight, it’s more down to getting it right on the
day and keeping the updates coming through. There are no weak
teams in F1 nowadays with just a handful of tenths of a second
making big differences," he added.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 23:49