Di Resta not distracted by Mercedes link

The rookie has enjoyed a strong start to the season, having scored points in the first two races and also outperforming team-mate Adrian Sutil often.

His form has already triggered speculation about a possible move to the Mercedes team in the future, but di Resta says he is solely focusing on the current season.

"You are always interested if teams like that are interested," said di Resta on Thursday. "I definitely, one day, would like to be in a position for that - but at the same I have said I am with Force India, I am fully focused on what I signed to do this year and that is to drive for Force India and do the best job here.

"I will continue to focus on that path, because there is still a long way to go and a lot up for grabs. You never know for the future. I will just continue eyes forwards and go on with what I have got set out, and there is a long way to go."

When asked if he could have reached F1 without the help of Mercedes - with which he clinched the DTM title last year - he said: "That is a question you will never know...it is a question you cannot answer because you have not done it.

"I have always said Mercedes have been a great influence on my career and I have been part of that family for a long time, enjoyed it, and I am still very close to them, but it is a question you never know if you would go there having gone that route."

The Scot said he is not surprised by the hype surrounding him, but only because he arrived in Formula 1 not knowing what to expect.

"I came into it as open-minded as I could. People say can you predict what you are going to do here or there, I don't think you can.

"The best thing to do is to go there and I have taken things step by step and not tried to take things too far in advance and do the best job where we are in this situation and that goes through the racing and through the media and everything.

"Yes, it has gone relatively on a straight path so far and there have been things that I can pick up and do better, but you never now - there could be good times ahead there could be tough times ahead, that is something you don't know.

"I am enjoying it, I am becoming more experienced and it is becoming more natural to me, just hopefully I can say at the end that what I am doing is being ahead of my team-mate and battling for some points this weekend."

Di Resta, who qualified in the top eight in the previous race in China, is hopeful of continuing with his strong form, but admits it is hard to make predictions given how close the field is.

"I hope it is not a one-off," he said. "At the same time, given how close it was in the midfield I don't think you can come in here saying you are going to get into Q3 or saying where you are going to be.

"It is so close and it depends on how your package works and what you have got out of it - and a lot will be how prepared you are coming to the GP."