Force India brings upgrade to Valencia

The raft of improvements include modifications to the front wings, changes to the bargeboard area, as well as the front of the floor and the sidepods.

With the results of an aerodynamic test for the new parts at Kemble last month having been positive, the team is upbeat about its prospects for the second half of the campaign.

Team principal Vijay Mallya said: "We have a major aerodynamic upgrade coming for Valencia, which includes a new floor, bargeboard area and front wing. We're looking forward to it as we had a very successful aero test with Tonio [Liuzzi] in the week before the summer shutdown.

"With this knowledge I hope we're able to maintain, if not improve, our relative position on track. F1 is more competitive than ever now so we need to keep these upgrades coming through and staying ahead of the others, who no doubt will be improving as well.

"We should definitely be Q2, maybe even the top of Q2 in Valencia and beyond. I'm quite optimistic as we're also working on more upgrades for the final races of the season so fingers crossed we should be able to maintain our momentum. There's more to come for Singapore as well in the latter part of the year so if we continue on our trajectory now we're looking quite good, on target with the goals we set at the start of the year."

Adrian Sutil believes that the fact that earlier upgrades have consistently delivered performance should bode well for the team's chances for Valencia.

"Every upgrade we've introduced so far this year has really made a difference so I have a lot of confidence that this will move us forward as well," said the German.

"The car is getting better and better to drive and with another upgrade I hope we will really be in the midfield now and in the hunt for points.

"We have this new upgrade that we hope will cement our Q2 positions and from there we should be regular midfield contenders. I'm looking to be reliable and avoid any mistakes and let's see where we go from there. We have some more parts coming for the flyaway races as well so it should be a very strong end to the season."