Force India Formula 1 team plans big upgrade for Mexican Grand Prix

After introducing its B-spec car at Silverstone in July, Force India has been making consistent progress and has now leapfrogged Lotus into fifth in the F1 constructors' championship.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley has said the full potential of the new car will not be realised until this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

From then on, the plan is to introduce updates to the car race-by-race, with a big push for Mexico, which returns to the calendar after a 23-year hiatus, in five races' time.

"We hope to have the whole package working in Singapore, where we can optimise anything," chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer told AUTOSPORT.

"From then on, it'll be little increments.

"We are looking at bringing something significant to Mexico if we can do it in time because it is Checo's home race.

"We want to give him the best shot to be on the podium if we can but we're not sure of the timing yet."

Fernley is pleased with the progress the team has made since the introduction of the B-spec but said it must improve its reliability.

Perez retired from the Hungarian GP with a brake problem while Nico Hulkenberg crashed out following a dramatic front wing failure and then failed to start the next race in Belgium because of a turbo problem.

"I'm pleased," said Fernley. "The progression has been continuous since Silverstone.

"There have been no changes to the programme and the B-spec will be finished in Singapore.

"What we need to make sure is that we get the reliability.

"We've had some DNFs recently so we need to get both cars in the points if we want to challenge for fifth."