Force India Team Principal Vijay Mallya has admitted that his team must maintain its run of momentum to secure a top six finish this year. Having already given up on their goal of fifth place in the Constructors Championship, the Silverstone-based outfit is now chasing Sauber for sixth position.
Force India is having its best ever season. This has been masked by the large improvements of Williams and Sauber. A double score at Spa-Francorchamps last time out has moved Force India to within 21 points of Sauber, which lost both cars in the pile-up at the start of the race caused by French Lotus driver Romain Grosjean.
“I think it was probably our most competitive showing of the year in terms of race pace,” Mallya says. “Nico ended the race just a couple of seconds behind Räikkönen and came very close to the podium. In terms of strategy, the pit wall called things perfectly and Nico did the rest by racing hard and making no mistakes.
“I remember this time last year saying that it was the most competitive season ever in the midfield, but this year has surpassed even that. Sauber and Williams have been on the podium and will continue to be strong in the remaining races. But at the same time I believe we have the car and the team to beat them. I also remember last year we performed better in the second half of the season, so I’m optimistic for the remaining races.”
When the Indian was asked if the team can keep up its strong run, he said: “We need to. The car was working well at Spa and looked competitive on the straights, so I’m hopeful we can carry this over to Monza where we run with even less downforce.”
Three years ago former Force India driver Adrian Sutil qualified on the front row and finished the race in fourth position at Monza in Italy.
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2024 F1 Championship Standings (as of April 7)
P | Driver | Team | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 77 |
2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 64 |
3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 59 |
4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 55 |
5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 37 |
6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 32 |
7 | George Russell | Mercedes | 24 |
8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 24 |
9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 10 |
10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 9 |
11 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 7 |
12 | Oliver Bearman | Ferrari | 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 | 141 |
Poles: 4 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 3 | ||
2 | Scuderia Ferrari | 120 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 1 | ||
3 | McLaren F1 Team | 69 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
4 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 34 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
5 | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 33 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
6 | Visa Cash App RB F1 Team | 7 |
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 April 14)
P | Rider | Team | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Racing | 80 |
2 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati Lenovo | 59 |
3 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing | 56 |
4 | Pedro Acosta | GASGAS Tech3 | 54 |
5 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo | 50 |
6 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM | 49 |
7 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia Racing | 39 |
8 | Marc Marquez | Gresini Racing | 36 |
9 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Pertamina Enduro VR46 | 25 |
10 | Jack Miller | Red Bull KTM | 22 |
11 | Marco Bezzecchi | Pertamina Enduro VR46 | 20 |
12 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha | 19 |
13 | Alex Marquez | Gresini Racing | 14 |
14 | Miguel Oliveira | Trackhouse Racing | 13 |
15 | Joan Mir | Repsol Honda | 7 |
16 | Raul Fernandez | Trackhouse Racing | 7 |
17 | Augusto Fernandez | GASGAS Tech3 | 7 |
18 | Johann Zarco | LCR Honda Castrol | 5 |
19 | Alex Rins | Monster Energy Yamaha | 3 |
20 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda Idemitsu | 2 |
21 | Luca Marini | Repsol Honda | 0 |
22 | Franco Morbidelli | Pramac Racing | 0 |
P | Team | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Ducati Lenovo Team | 109 |
Poles: 1 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 1 | ||
2 | Aprilia Racing | 95 |
Poles: 1 Sprint wins: 2 GP wins: 1 | ||
3 | Prima Pramac Racing | 80 |
Poles: 1 Sprint wins: 1 GP wins: 1 | ||
4 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 71 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
5 | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 | 61 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
6 | Gresini Racing MotoGP | 50 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
7 | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | 45 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
8 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 22 |
Poles: 0 Sprint wins: 0 GP wins: 0 | ||
9 | Trackhouse Racing | 20 |
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 |