Paul di Resta aims to beat the Mercedes in the Hungarian Grand Prix

Di Resta qualified 11th, two places behind Schumacher and four behind Rosberg. But the Scot believes that he and Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil have the potential to make one less pitstop than the Mercedes pairing.

"We go into the race targeting them," said di Resta when asked by AUTOSPORT whether Mercedes is beatable. "It is realistic for us to get them should everything else go right.

"On the long runs yesterday, we looked fairly competitive against Mercedes, so let's see where they are on tyre degradation.

"It's important for us to be fighting for the points. We are 11th, on the good side of the track, and we are definitely within fighting range."

The Scot is anticipating a race dictated by tyre degradation, with a variety of different strategies. He added that the way the Pirelli rubber drops off could also boost overtaking in the race.

"It's tough to get through the last corner when you have degradation and that leads into the DRS zone," said di Resta. "If you are a little bit better than someone in front, it will have a big impact.

"If they have extreme degradation, they could easily lose a chunk of time going onto the straight."