Formula One: Force India want to keep McLaren in rearview mirror

Force India drivers Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil started strong at Australian Grand Prix last month and are already looking ahead to Shanghai and Bahrain.

Force India failed to score points in Malaysia last month but Paul di Resta took eighth in Australia to open the season. Mark Thompson / Getty Images

Paul Di Resta is confident that Force India can maintain their promising start to the season at the Chinese Grand Prix next week and can continue to out-pace the McLaren-Mercedes team.

The Force team failed to score points in Malaysia last month due to mechanical problems, but both Di Resta and teammate Adrian Sutil had shown good pace in the race before then, following up their strong opening race in Australia, where Sutil was seventh and Di Resta eighth.

The team have been faster than the more fancied McLaren team in both races, and Di Resta said: "I've a lot of respect for what McLaren do. Although they are struggling at the moment, they can develop.

"But we will be pushing to stay in front of them. Our performance so far has been far better than people expected, far better than people could probably overhaul in two weeks."

Looking ahead to the race on April 14 in Shanghai, and the next event, a week later in Bahrain, the Briton added: "Despite what happened in Malaysia, we took very good positives from the weekend through our performance, so I'm looking forward to China and Bahrain.

"I'd like to think we'd have some more knowledge on our car to make it quicker, although China is a different philosophy compared to what we have experienced so far this season.

"But we had a good car there two years ago, and there is no reason why we can't go there and repeat that.

"As for Bahrain, that is probably one of the strongest grands prix we had last year, and with the climate similar there as to Malaysia with the heat, I'm confident."

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