Force India certain it is on the cusp of F1 podium return

The team will celebrate its 100th race in its current guise in Canada this weekend.

It is currently fifth in the constructors' championship, ahead of McLaren. It finished fourth in Bahrain with Paul di Resta and fifth in Monaco with Adrian Sutil.

"I think we are now knocking on the door of our first podium finish since 2009, and it's time to do that all-important step," said Mallya.

"Montreal would be a great place to do so - it is a track that favours overtaking and our car has shown the race pace to finish among the leaders, so everything is possible.

"I am proud of everyone in the team because we have achieved good results - and claimed 44 points - despite some very unfortunate occurrences.

"With a bit more luck, we would be even further ahead of McLaren: but the focus is on the future.

"We know our rivals will be more competitive in the next few rounds, but we have shown we can mix with the big teams and we intend to do so for the coming races too."

Mallya underlined that when he took over what was then the Spyker team prior to the 2008 season, it was mired at the back of the field.

"When we started back in 2008 we simply had the ambition to break out of Q1 and we dreamed of scoring points," he said.

"Seeing where we stand today is therefore extremely rewarding and motivates us all to continue working just as hard for the next 100 races."

FORCE INDIA'S PODIUM NEAR-MISSES
Edd Straw - F1 editor
(@EddStrawF1)

Since Giancarlo Fisichella's second place in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, Force India has not returned to the podium.

But it has come incredibly close, as these near-misses prove.

2009 Italian Grand Prix

Adrian Sutil qualified second and ran third early on behind Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, only to be jumped by the one-stopping Brawns of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

Hamilton's last-lap crash handed Sutil fourth, while team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi had an outside chance of one-stopping his way to third on his first F1 start since 2007 when he retired with a transmission problem.

2012 Belgian Grand Prix

After a disappointing qualifying performance, Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta ran third and fourth at the end of the first lap, having survived the first-corner mayhem.

Di Resta faded to 10th thanks to a KERS problem, putting him out of contention, while Hulkenberg finished fourth and only missed the podium by a couple of seconds.

2012 Singapore Grand Prix

Di Resta reckoned that his fourth place in the Singapore GP could have been one better but for the bad timing of a mid-race safety car.

He ended up finishing behind Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso thanks to the safety car that nullified his strategic advantage, which could have allowed him to finish in the top three.

2012 Brazilian Grand Prix

While others pitted, Hulkenberg and Button stayed out on slicks on a damp track. When the safety car was deployed, the Force India driver led with Button right behind him and third-placed Hamilton a massive 53 seconds behind.

Even after the safety car, Hulkenberg was able to fight for the lead before losing the rear of the car while trying to pass Hamilton at the first corner and hitting the McLaren, the time loss and resulting penalty relegating him to fifth.

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

Di Resta started fifth and thanks to his two-stop strategy, spent 33 laps in the top three.

Unfortunately for Force India, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean drove a strong race on a three-stopper, capitalising on his tyre advantage to pass di Resta for third on the 52nd lap of the 57-lap race.