Force India's Team Principal and Managing Director, Vijay Mallya, admitted that his team can no longer archive a top five position in this year’s Constructors Championship, despite targeting no less than that when the season began. Mallya puts this down to the huge improvement from their rivals Lotus.
Statistically the Silverstone-based team has improved over every Formula 1 season since its debut in 2008. Although the team lies in eighth, it has experienced its strongest ever start with their drivers, German Nico Hülkenberg and Scotsman Paul di Resta. Still Force India is unable to keep on track with their rivals Sauber, Williams and Lotus.
“We were sixth in the championship last year and we had the objective this year of coming fifth,” Mallya commented on Friday. “However, the improvement of Lotus has been exceptionally dramatic, so I think to target fifth is probably overreaching our capabilities for this year. We should at least target sixth, where we finished last year, and that means getting ahead of both Sauber and Williams.”
Mallya stresses that tyres are still the talking point: “Sitting on the pit wall and listening to the predictions and guesswork on tyres is unbelievable. The most unpredictable part of this season has been the tyres and, with the high temperatures in Hungary, it was always a debate. Two stops or three stops? One thing I was pretty sure of was that nobody was going to try a one-stop.”
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2024 F1 Championship Standings (as of March 24)
P | Driver | Team | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 51 |
2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 47 |
3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 46 |
4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 40 |
5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 28 |
6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 27 |
7 | George Russell | Mercedes | 18 |
8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 16 |
9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 9 |
10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 8 |
11 | Oliver Bearman | Ferrari | 6 |
12 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 6 |
13 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | 3 |
14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1 |
15 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 0 |
16 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 0 |
17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 0 |
18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 0 |
19 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber | 0 |
20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 0 |
21 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber | 0 |
P | Team | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 97 |
Poles: 3 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 2 | ||
2 | Scuderia Ferrari | 93 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 1 | ||
3 | McLaren F1 Team | 55 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
4 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 26 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
5 | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 25 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
6 | Visa Cash App RB F1 Team | 6 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
7 | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 4 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
8 | Williams Racing | 0 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
9 | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 0 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
10 | Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber | 0 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 |
2024 MotoGP Championship Standings (as of March 24)
P | Rider | Team | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Racing | 60 |
2 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM | 42 |
3 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati Lenovo | 39 |
4 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo | 37 |
5 | Pedro Acosta | GASGAS Tech3 | 28 |
6 | Marc Marquez | Gresini Racing | 27 |
7 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia Racing | 25 |
8 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing | 19 |
9 | Jack Miller | Red Bull KTM | 16 |
10 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Pertamina Enduro VR46 | 15 |
11 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha | 15 |
12 | Alex Marquez | Gresini Racing | 13 |
13 | Marco Bezzecchi | Pertamina Enduro VR46 | 12 |
14 | Miguel Oliveira | Trackhouse Racing | 8 |
15 | Joan Mir | Repsol Honda | 7 |
16 | Johann Zarco | LCR Honda Castrol | 5 |
17 | Augusto Fernandez | GASGAS Tech3 | 5 |
18 | Alex Rins | Monster Energy Yamaha | 3 |
19 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda Idemitsu | 2 |
20 | Franco Morbidelli | Pramac Racing | 0 |
21 | Luca Marini | Repsol Honda | 0 |
22 | Raul Fernandez | Trackhouse Racing | 0 |
P | Team | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Ducati Lenovo Team | 76 |
Poles: 1 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 1 | ||
2 | Prima Pramac Racing | 60 |
Poles: 1 Sprint wins: 1 GP wins: 1 | ||
3 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 58 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
4 | Aprilia Racing | 44 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 1 GP wins: 0 | ||
5 | Gresini Racing MotoGP | 40 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
6 | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 | 33 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
7 | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | 27 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
8 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 18 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
9 | Trackhouse Racing | 8 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
10 | Repsol Honda Team | 7 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
11 | LCR Honda Team | 7 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 |