Force India: Bahrain will be tough test

Force India boss Vijay Mallya has said his team is determined to score this weekend in Bahrain. The squad was unable to add to its nine point tally last weekend in China. However, while that was the case, Mallya was still encouraged by the pace of the VJM05, although he concedes it won't be easy for Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg to break into the top-ten at the Sakhir circuit. “The Chinese Grand Prix was certainly an entertaining race and it showed once again that we have one of the most competitive grids in the history of the sport. In qualifying every hundredth of a second counts and will gain you positions on the grid, while in the race we've seen plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing. It's great for the fans and hopefully the rest of the season will prove just as exciting,” Mallya commented ahead of the fourth round in the 2012 F1 World Championship. “Although we missed out on points in China, we take encouragement from our race pace, which showed that the developments we are bringing to the car are paying off and that we are closing the gap to our midfield rivals. “It's easy to point to statistics, but Paul finished the race just 22 seconds away from second place and seven and half seconds away from seventh place. It shows that we can stay in the hunt for points and that we have the potential to make some good progress when the championship returns to Europe and we can make further improvements to the car. “Bahrain this week will be another tough test, but it's a circuit with different characteristics and climate. We picked up points the last time we raced in Bahrain in 2010 so we will approach the weekend determined to deliver a repeat performance.” di Resta is similarly hopeful that they can pull something out of the bag and get a few points: “We will have the same car in Bahrain because it's just a few days away, but it's a very different track and we expect different weather conditions so we will try to make the most out of that," he added. “The team have some good ideas because we have not raced there for a couple of years and nobody has had a chance to run on Pirellis there yet."