Mallya vows to force his way up the grid

Vijay Mallya concedes he is no miracle-worker after transforming the fortunes of Force India, but the billionaire co-owner knows the hard work has only just started.

In their former guise of Spyker last year, the team were almost a laughing stock as they consistently sat at the back of the grid.

But following a takeover and a considerable injection of Mallya’s fortune, Force India are making a worthy attempt of proving they deserve their place in Formula One.

With the experience of Giancarlo Fisichella at the wheel of one of their cars, the team have come within a whisker of their initial target of a place in the second round of qualifying.

As Mallya points out: “A tenth of a second has never mattered as much as now.”

Ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, Mallya added: “All the guys at the track and back at the factory are doing all they possibly can to extract every millisecond.

“We’re now tantalisingly close to that competitive midfield group, and I have every confidence and no doubts it will come.

“If you look at what we have achieved over the winter in just five months, which isn’t very long in the context of this sport, you’ll see just how much we’ve come on.

“We’re no longer at the back, and though it will get tougher here on in, it’s a golden opportunity for us.”

Although Force India are the first Indian team to compete in the sport, they are far from a novelty act, with Mallya demanding far greater effort to ensure their goals are achieved.

“Our relative success has led to the popularity of Formula One growing exponentially in India,” added Mallya.

“We’ve attracted a lot of positive print and TV coverage back home and everyone is congratulating the team on the progress we have made.

“We are deploying all our resources to keep it up and make sure the team, and in turn the sport, retains this wave of support.

“Although no-one expects miracles, the fact we qualified close to the top 16 and finished in the top 12 in Malaysia and Bahrain demonstrates everything is happening strongly and positively.

“At this stage of the season, everything counts, and that’s the challenge we face now.”