Di Resta expects best qualifying yet

The Scot, who had his first taste of Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve yesterday, believes that his team is in the best position that it has been in heading into a Saturday so far this season.

"Definitely," said di Resta when asked by AUTOSPORT whether this was Force India's best Friday. "But it depends on what programme everyone was on.

"We are more positive than we have been, but I'm not going to get carried away. It's very close.

"We are a bit more competitive, but I'm not sure it is a true reflection of where we are because it was quite a mixed-up session."

Force India has been at its best on low downforce tracks in recent years. Despite running parts of its all-new aerodynamic package, which was first used in Spain last month, di Resta suspects that the car is well-suited to the track regardless of the upgrades.

"The car definitely suits low downforce because it has not got the downforce that it needs on other tracks," said di Resta. "How much that reflects in our lap time is difficult to say."

Di Resta added that although his lap time was set on the quicker super soft rubber, it was not a low-fuel run, indicating that there is more to come from the car.

He also found the prime compound did not suffer from the levels of degradation that led some to anticipate a huge number of pitstops in Sunday's race.

"It wasn't a proper run," said di Resta. "It could have been better or worse; you can't gauge it.

"We did a run on the primes and it didn't seem too bad. Looking down the times, people have found them quite consistent. It just depends how the tyre wear is.

"But it will change a bit by Sunday, because it did in Monaco."