2013 season a fresh start, says Paul di Resta

The Force India driver equalled the best result of his career with a fourth-place finish in Bahrain a fortnight ago, having battled for a podium place for much of the race.

With his form this season showing that he has recovered well from the performance dip he suffered at the end of last year, di Resta reckons that there is even more to come from his team.

"It's been a question of building confidence," di Resta told AUTOSPORT about the progress he has made since the start of this season.

"Working with my guys it has been a good fresh start - and it had to be. Nothing could have been any worse than it was going at the end of last year in terms of how difficult it was.

"You just have to be man enough and say it was out of my hands. But, we are working away now and we will not be giving up.

"I certainly hope this is not the last time that we will be fighting at this end of the grid - and I would hope we can be better."

Force India has had an encouraging start to the season, and is currently fifth in the constructors' championship standings - one place ahead of McLaren.

Di Resta thinks that rules stability has been a key factor in allowing his Silverstone-based team to be able to challenge its big-budget rivals.

"This car is an evolution of the car we had last year, and that is generally a strong point of this team," he said.

"We have not reacted well to new design philosophies right away. We react better during the year."