Australian GP: Sutil aims to benefit from McLaren woes to reach Q3

McLaren is bracing itself for a difficult start to its campaign as it struggles to get its MP4-28 up to speed.

Its form is a bonus to Force India, though, which emerged in Friday practice as the nearest challenger to the pacesetting Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus teams.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he felt McLaren's struggles would give Force India a genuine shot at a top 10 grid place, Sutil said: "Yeah, I believe we can make it into Q3 definitely.

"Our focus is to the front, and after that we confirmed we are strong, and competitive in the front of the midfield.

"So we have to take all the chances we get. Everything is possible. Tomorrow there is rain expected so it will be pedal to the metal and to the front."

Sutil said that his Friday programme had been encouraging, which gave him confidence for the team's chances over the rest of the weekend.

"I am quite happy," he said. "Everything went very well. I had good work with my engineer. We did several runs on different tyres, but we didn't change much on the set-up."

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