Force India Aims for 5th Place in 2011

Force India doesn't think little of the upcoming Formula 1 campaign, as their target for the 2011 season is bold to say the least. What Vijay Mallyas wants for the month of November is to see his team in 5th place in the constructors' classification, after it will have scored a few podiums along the way.

And the man in charge of securing those targets is Romanian-born CEO Otmar Szafnauer, who revealed to the media during the team's online presentation of their VJM04 single-seater that anything less than 5th place overall will be seen as a failure at the end of 2011.

“Last year we finished a strong seventh – and we were sixth for most of the season,” said Szafnauer. “We always want to improve and our objectives this year are to finish higher than last year. So we are targeting fifth place in the championship – and in order to do that we have to score points from the beginning and then all the way through to the end.”

“To do that, we need strong development during the year – and if all goes well, then perhaps even a podium finish or two is an aim.”

While down-to-earth not to think of challenging teams like McLaren Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing in F1, Szafnauer insisted that the lack of huge budgets (like the ones enjoyed by the aforementioned squads) will not have an impact on the way the team develops through the 2011 campaign. And that's because Force India have implemented a good system that works even though it benefits from half the workforce of the championship “big guns.”

“We have strength in depth with the technical staff. We have many people who have been here a long time, and many people coming into their own. We have created a good mechanical package that is an evolution of last year's car, and we are working hard on the aerodynamic package.”

“We have increased our aerodynamic personnel. We run 24/7 in the wind tunnel, which is something that is recent, and with those positive changes we will be able to compete. It is never good to lose senior technical people, but such is the game in F1,” he added, referring to the loss of technical masterminds James Key and Mark Smith at the end of the 2010 campaign.