Nico Hulkenberg: Force India can finish ahead of Williams in 2012

Although Force India had a slow start to the season, the team has made good progress with its VJM05 car since then - with both Hulkenberg and team-mate Paul di Resta showing strong potential at numerous races.

Force India is only seven points behind Williams in the team standings and Hulkenberg thinks that further development progress can help lift it past its Grove-based rivals.

"We already showed last year that our development speed is very competitive and I do not see a reason why we shouldn't be able to repeat that again," he told the official Formula 1 website.

"We're only seven points shy of Williams and I think we can catch them. I don't know whether it's possible to catch Sauber. It will be difficult, but the whole team will try their very best, that's for sure."

Sauber is currently sixth in the constructors' championship with 80 points, ahead of Williams on 53 and Force India on 46.

Hulkenberg thinks that his team has punched above its weight in qualifying this year, but its form in races is more indicative of its real pace so far.

"Pace-wise we are still behind Sauber, Williams and all the frontrunners," he said. "This means, that we have the chance to beat Williams, Sauber or Mercedes when our weekend goes completely smoothly and they struggle. In qualifying this happens more often, but in the race they have 50, 60, 70 laps to get their faster cars in front of ours. So our race pace actually shows us where we really are."