News that Giancarlo Fisichella has crashed the Force India car in testing at Silverstone today piles yet more misfortune upon a team that has had plenty already this season. It would be understandable if supporters were to become despondent at this stage, with the team generally occupying the tail end of the grid and struggling to improve.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil
But all is not quite as bad as may seem. After a surprisingly good start to the season, Fisichella has dropped back a bit as other teams found extra pace but Adrian Sutil seems to have overcome his initial problems and is now as quick as his team leader. Both drivers are beginning to finish races, too, and this bodes well for a better performance in the later races.
In fact, the team's results are made to look worse by the demise of Super Aguri a few races ago. This leaves Force India as the smallest team on the grid and with a mountain to climb to start impacting the midfield. When one compares their performance with Honda's, it has to be said that they are very close to respectability.
Their greatest strength is, of course, Mike Gascoyne, the chief technical officer. With a long history of bringing teams into contention, he ensures that Force India will get there sooner or later, other things being equal. And he remains optimistic, pointing out that they have some major aerodynamic upgrades to introduce before the British GP. Vitantonio Liuzzi was encouraged by the effectiveness of those tried in testing yesterday and Fisichella too said that the car had been greatly improved. It is unfortunate that the wind caught out Fizzy in Becketts, resulting in a big impact with the barriers and extensive damage to the car as a result.
It never rains but it pours, they say, and teams that are struggling seem to have more than their fair share of bad luck. Force India do seem to be weathering the storm, however, and are still upbeat about their chances of catching the rest this year. Team owner, Vijay Mallya, continues to be realistic in his assessment of the team's future and is certainly not discouraged.
There is certainly no weakness in the power plant, at least, the Ferrari engine being rumored to be the most powerful at the moment, and Toro Rosso doing well enough with it in the hands of Sebastian Vettel. And that could be the team that Force India should be aiming at, Honda being so unpredictable and variable in performance. It will not happen overnight but I would not be surprised to see Force India beginning to get into the midfield later in the year.
And that will make competition even fiercer in a year in which differences are measured in thousandths of a second. Ferrari and McLaren may appear untouchable but the battle behind them is closer and more cut-throat than it has been for years.